Crona's Story
by The Knight of Thirteen
Summary: After a battle with a keshin egg ends in Ragnarok's death, Crona learns to deal with life and its challenges. She refuses to take a new partner and pursues a path as a meister with the help of those who have grown to care for her. She finds a place to call home and people to call a family, and from there, Crona can finally begin living for herself. Scattered Shoujo Ai.
1. Chapter 1

_**So, i have grown to love the character of Crona. And in all of my stories, she is a girl, so keep that in mind. This idea came from Koa-chan and her story Antisocial Not. I loved the basis of Stein and Marie adopting Crona, and i wanted to see what i could do with that. I may continue this later, but for now it is just a series of short segments of Crona's life. If i continue, thre will be some romance, and most likely a little Shoujo-ai, even if it doesn't last, cause i think Maka x Crona is just**_** adorable.******

_**Some parts later on will focus on characters besides Crona, so don't be surprised if suddenly you're reading about Kid at the beach with Liz and Patty, or Soul and Blair going to a dance.**_

* * *

"Crona!" The pink haired girl looked to her friend just as the pre-kishin's claws came to her back. She had enough time to harden part of her blood, but was still torn up badly and launched into the side of the buildings lining the alley way.

"Hey Crona, are you okay?!" Soul called out to her as Maka's attention was refocused on running.

"I... I think so..." She pushed herself to her hands and knee, shaking from the force of the impact.

"Get back to the school! We'll take it from here, you're in no condition to fight!" Maka called to her, standing between the monster and the injured girl. Crona struggled to her feet and summoned Ragnarok to her hand in sword form.

"No... I can't leave you to fight alone..." She stumbled and crumpled to her knees, the sword going limp in her grasp.

"Maka, you go take care of her. I'll handle this one myself!" Black Star ran at the monster swinging the demon sword high. Maka thought about arguing, but one look at her friend told her there was no time.

"Crona, your bleeding badly! Can you harden your blood?" Maka was beside her, examining the wound and applying pressure as best she coud, but it was too much for one person. Soul transformed and put his hands in the gaps left by his meister.

"Ragnarok... He won't respond... I'm too weak..." Crona's eyes fell closed. Soul transformed his hand into a blade and cut his jacket into a few long strips, wrapping them tightly around the girl's bleeding back before picking her up in his arms. Maka followed quickly, keeping an eye out for the enemy as they made their way to the academy.

* * *

"This doesn't look good. Ragnarok should be able to harden her blood even if she is unconscious. That leads me to believe something happened to him more so than her. Maka, open a line to Lord Death please. Marie, get my opperating kit and clean the table off. Soul, run some water into pan and use one of those cloths to begin cleaning the wound."

Stein put those around him into action immediately, stepping in front of the mirror that now showed the Shinigami's concerned face.

"Stein? What's happened?"

"Crona is injured. Ragnarok is unresponsive. I'm afraid the kishin egg may have caused irreparable harm to him and that the injury will kill them both if I do not act immediately. I believe I may have a theory to separate them, which would increase the likelihood of both of them surviving. But I can guarantee her survival if I sacrifice him. It is risky either way. Crona is unconscious and I need someone to make that decision."

"No... I'm awake... Don't kill him... He saved me... Try to save him too... Please..." Crona whimpered from her place on the counter, startling Soul as he was wiping the deep cuts on her back.

"It is her choice, Stein. Please keep me informed of their conditions." Lord Death looked worried and regretful as he closed the link.

"Alright. Marie. I need you to go to the basement and bring me 6 quarts of blood, any kind. Crona is AB+ and the black blood should make her even more compatible than most. Soul, please take her to my lab and place her face down on the table. Use a couple of cloths as a pillow, I want her as straigh and relaxed as possible."

Stein walked purposefully to a large cabinet and began pulling out a number of contraptions that vaguely resembled improvised transfusion equipment. He set up the equipment around the table as Soul gently stretched Crona's nearly lifeless body out on it, propping her head up slightly with a few rolled up towels.

"Will she be okay Professor?" Maka was pale and shaking. She had always thought of Crona as indestrucatble. She held her friends hand as she waited on the scientist to begin working.

"Given the operation, I would say she has a 65% chance of survival. Ragnarok's is only 15%. But I will do my best. Just don't distract me, and don't get in the way." Maka nodded dumbly and scooted her stool as far to the corner as possible. Soul sat next to her and held her free hand.

"They'll be alright Maka. She's the second toughest girl I have ever met, and Ragnarok won't leave her alone." Maka smiled at her weapon's comforting words.

"Is this enough?" Marie returned with a tray containing many packages of red liquid.

"Yes. She's small, so it will be more than plenty. Alright, hook the first one up and get the second ready. You will need to keep an eye on the level and make sure there is always a fresh one waiting. My attention will be elsewhere."

"Y-yes Franken. How... how long will this take?"

"Four minutes or less. Any longer and the lack of oxygen will begin causing lasting damage. Maka, please get bandages out of that cabnet and lay them out in four long strips. As soon as I tell you, help me apply them to the wounds. Marie, when we do that, you will need to use your healing wavelength on Ragnarok. Try to keep him holding on for as long as possible. Soul... I will need some of your blood."

"What? For what?"

"You still have black blood in your veins. It is the best bet for saving her weapon." Soul swallowed and nodded, rolling up his sleeve.

"That won't be necessary. It multiplies quickly. I'll only need a drop." Stein pulled a syringe from a pocket and extracted a few drops of dark blood from Soul's finger. He turned to a machine he had pulled to the center of the room and squirted the liquid into a chamber. He flipped a switch and it began to hum quietly.

"Alright. It's time." Stein slipped two tubes into Crona's arms and then focused his wavelength on her.

"What are you doing?"

"I will have to guide the black blood out and keep Ragnarok separate from the incoming blood. Begin now."

The group did as instructed, moving from task to task smoothly. A stream of black blood flowed from one tube into the humming machine while a stream of red blood flowed into the injured girl.

In only three minutes, Maka was applying bandages to her friend with Stein's guidance as Marie tried desperately to keep Ragnarok from slipping away. Stein walked to the machine and flipped a switch just as a green light flicked on.

"That's all I can do. Maintain a connection with him. He will either stabilize or fade away. He's been mixed with a healthy batch of black blood, but if the injury was too severe, he may not recover. Maka, please inform Lord Death of the progress."

Maka opened a link to the Death Room and relayed the events that had passed since the last contact.

"Crona is going to make it?"

"Without a doubt. She began improving as soon as I removed the last of the black blood, but that does not bode well for her partner's survival." Stein washed his hands carefully and then lit a cigarette, stepping fully before the mirror. "I've done all I can. We're waiting now to see if Ragnarok will make it."

"Alright. How soon will you know for sure?"

"Hard to say. No more than a few hours, but likely no more than twenty minutes." Stein looked at Marie who was leaned against the machine, face tense with concentration. "It would not have gone nearly so well without the help of these students and Marie. Whatever the outcome, I recommend some reward for their services."

It was not often Stein commended someone's performance on anything, much less a field he himself was a true master of, so Lord Death immediately nodded. "Of course!"

"Stein he's fading!" The scientist's head twisted suddenly at the call of his death weapon.

"Hold on." He knelt beside her and resonated with her, using his own wavelength to coax the liquid weapon into a solid form. Moments later he stood. "No good. He's gone."

* * *

"Hey Crona, how are you feeling today?" Marie walked into the room to see the girl sitting quietly on the table, her legs dangling above the ground, her shoulders drooping slightly.

"I'm alright... I just miss Ragnarok... Everyone thought I hated him, but I couldn't. He was the only one there for me through everything, even if he didn't have a choice. He really did try to make me stronger. He was my first friend..." Marie sat next to her and hugged her tightly.

"It'll be alright Crona. I know it hurts, but you still have your memories of him. He died saving your life. So live it enough for him too." The pink haired girl nodded and began to cry, holding onto the blonde woman as she trembled.

"Can... can I go back to classes tomorrow?" Crona wiped her eyes and looked at the kind woman's one good eye.

"I'll have to ask Stein, but I think you will probably be able to. Remember to take it slow though. You've been through a lot and you shouldn't over do it." Crona only nodded. "Alright. Stein sent me to change your bandages. He's busy with a new research project and said to only come and get him if you'd developed an infection. This might be the last set of bandages!" Marie smiled reassuringly at the sad girl as she laid down on her stomach and pulled her shirt up to her shoulder blades.

"I haven't been injured for this long since I was a young child... I am not sure how to deal with this... Thank you for taking care of me though..." Crona winced as the bandages peeled off her back.

"You're very welcome! I've enjoyed getting to spend some time with you, but I wish it could have been under better circumstances. Promise you'll start visiting again?" Marie washed the tender new skin gently and applied the proper medicines before applying new bandages.

"I will... You're much kinder than I deserve..." Crona suddenly let out a squeak and turned her head to the side. Marie had just pinched her.

"Don't say that. You've been through hell. You didn't deserve that. You are a sweet girl and a good friend to everyone who knows you. Now if I hear you talking about yourself like you are worthless again, i'll have to keep pinching you." Marie held up her fingers threateningly, and Crona couldn't help but smile.

"Alright. Thank you. I'm just not used to having people care about me. I still don't know how to deal with it sometimes..." Crona sat up and pulled her shirt carefully over her fresh bandages and stretched, smiling slightly.

"It's good to see a smile on that face! I'll go tell Franken and see if he will okay you going back to classes tomorrow." Marie smiled happily at the girl and walked out of the room.

* * *

"Crona! You're back!" Maka rushed to her friend as soon as she entered the lecture hall, hugging her carefully to avoid the girl's back.

"Hey Maka!" The pink haired girl smiled shyly at her blonde friend and hugged her back. "Professor Stein said I could come back today!"

"Hey Crona. Good to see you back." Soul stood a few feet behind his meister, hands in his pockets, but a relatively friendly smile on his face.

"Good to see you too Soul." Crona took her seat near them both and Maka placed a notebook before her.

"I took a second copy of notes from class for you. I hope it helps." Maka scooted the notes closer. Crona took them gratefully.

"Th-thank you Maka! I hadn't thought about how much I had missed..." Crona suddenly looked nearly ill with nervousness.

"Don't worry, you can come over and i'll help you study anything you have trouble on. It really helps to go over it with someone else. I've had to do a lot of make up homework because of missions and injuries. Don't worry, the teachers are very understanding. Well... Except Stein." Soul shivered and scooted down in his seat.

"He's been scarier than usual the last few days. Whatever his new project is, either it is going badly, or it's going well. Either way, it's making him smile more, and it creeps me out." Soul grumbled. Crona laughed a little.

"I have seen him every day for a week. He barely leaves his lab since he started this project. I still don't know what it is." Maka and Soul both sat up. Crona looked at them with confussion, then understood. "I had to go to him to have my bandages changed, and to visit Marie." The two partners nodded in understanding.

"I thought he was experimenting on _you_ for a minute Crona. Don't scare us like that." Soul slouched again.

"Sorry... I don't think he experiments on his patients... Does he?" Crona looked scared.

"Well... maybe not anymore. Marie may have him on a shorter leash... But he used to experiment on my father when he slept back when they were partners." Maka informed her friend. Crona's eyes expanded and she shivered.

"Th-that is really s-scary..."

"Alright, everyone, sit down. Today should be a very interesting day for all of you." All eyes snapped to the front of the lecture hall where Professor Stein sat in his favorite chair, facing them over his arms crossed on the back rest.

"Today, we're going to the field. You will see what it is like for three star meisters to battle each other with death scythes." Gasps of shock and excitement came from the group. They rarely got to witness battles between pairs, and never had any of them seen a fight between masters.

"I will be competing with Professor Mjolnir, while Lord Death will be using Spirit Albarn. He's made multiple mentions of how out of practice he is, so I thought a good old fashion duel was in order. So. What are you waiting for? Get going." As quickly as he had appeared, the scientist was gone.

"This is going to be so awesome! Lord Death against Stein, the best meister to ever graduate from this academy?! This will be the most epic fight ever!" Maka was nearly squealing with excitement. Contrary to her usual behavior, the thought of witnessing a battle that should model what they all strive for was filling her with energy.

"Calm down Maka, it's only a duel. They likely will not go all out, especially within the school." Kid caught up to them with his two weapons at his shoulders.

"Yeah, if they were going to go all out, they would do it in the death room." Soul nodded at Kid's statement.

"Whatever. It's not going to be as cool as watching _me_ fight." Black Star stated as he jumped from the next row of seat to theirs.

"Didn't Mifune kick your butt several times? Not so cool." Soul's teasing tone made Black Star glare at his friend.

"Hey, I won in the end, and that means I never lost!" The self proclaimed ninja walked off ahead with Tsubaki following at his heels.

"If I didn't think he'd beat the hell out of me, i'd love to deflate his ego a bit." Maka scowled.

"He's gotten better and you know it. At least now he deserves some of his arrogance." Soul said, weakly defending his friend.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Maka sighed and turned to Crona. "Come on! We don't want to miss this!"

* * *

"Well that was anti climactic." Maka sighed as they made their way back for their next class. Stein had struck Spirit directly with Marie and delivered a blast of their combined wavelength coupled togther with her electricity, knocking him unconscious and incapable of remaining in weapon form. It was over in under a minute. Lord Death apologized for not shielding Spirit from the attack with his own wavelength, but the red haired man still scowled mutinously for the rest of the day.

"It was still a good learning experience for some of the students. Its part of why we have to learn soul resonance. Most weapons will rely on their meister for defence against wavelength or electrical attacks." Kid stated calmly.

"Yeah, but I was really hoping to see a good example of what a three star meister is capable of." Maka sat heavily in her seat.

"Hey, when you're a three star meister, we can challenge Stein and show them all the fight you wanted to see." Soul put a hand on her shoulder as he sat beside her.

"Yeah... I've got to turn you into a death scythe first though." Maka leaned back in her seat and looked up a couple of rows to where Black Star and Tsubaki were talking. "I really hope we make it before they do."

"Why?"

"Because I would rather not have to put up with Black Star's ego if he is the first in the class to create a death scythe or reach three star level." Soul sighed and slumped onto his desk.

"I only need two more keshin eggs and a witch." Maka jumped.

"We're that close?! Why didn't you tell me!?" Soul raised an eyebrow at her.

"You usually keep count yourself."

"Good afternoon!" Marie walked to the front of the class with her ever present smile. Maka fell quiet and sulked at Soul's mention of her loss of attention.

* * *

"Professor Mjolnir... I have a question..."

"What is it Crona?"

"Is... is it possible... for me to continue here... without taking a new weapon partner?"

"I don't know... It would be unusual at the very least, but I don't think it is unheard of. Stein is more dangerous without a weapon than many full pairs. That is if you still want to fight. There are always non combat rolls. Stein would be the one to ask though. He has more experience. If you hurry you should be able to catch him before he leaves." Crona thanked her and ran quickly to the lecture hall just in time to see Stein walking out, dragging his chair and a pile of books stacked on the seat.

"Professor Stein!" The man turned and paused, looking at the slender girl sprinting toward him. She stopped and breathed shakily for a moment.

"You know you were supposed to be taking it easy your first day, not sprinting the halls." He didn't sound angry, mearly bored and slightly ammused at her actions.

"I... i'm sorry. I needed to ask you something before you left... Can... can a meister continue here without a weapon?" Crona remembered just how intimidating the tall man could be.

"Yes. There are several courses still open to you even without a weapon partner. Research, wavelength combat, medicine, teaching, or even a technical career. I would recommend a combination of wavelength combat or hand to hand with any of the others. You will be able to go on missions with the others, but also be able to be useful and successful without taking a new partner."

Crona stared up at the scientist as he reached up and twisted the bolt slowly. She had no idea he could be so helpful. She hadn't heard of many people actually asking him for advice. As the best meister to graduate and a brilliant scientist, she shouldn't have expected any less.

"Th-thank you professor." Stein nodded and returned to dragging his chair and books down the hall. She heard him twist his bolt again, the clicks echoing eerily down the empty hall.

She made her way to her room in the visitor's quarters beneath the school and packed up the books and materials she would need to complete her homework, then began the long trek to Maka and Soul's. She knew she would be taking every opportunity to escape this lonely dungeon now that Ragnarok was gone.

* * *

"Marie, we need to talk." Stein was sitting in his favorite chair as usual, but contrary to his usual habits, it was parked squarely in the middle of his living room. Marie was startled when she walked in and saw him sitting there, gazing at her with those sharp eyes.

"F-franken you scared me! What is it?"

"Crona."

"Oh no, what's happened?! Is she alright?!" Marie was inches from his face in moments, demanding to know what harm had befallen the unfortunate girl.

"Nothing has happened Marie, I want to speak to you about her future."

"At the academy?"

"Among other things. I understand her reluctance to take another partner, and I would like to make every possible path available to her. This may require private lessons from both of us as well as other members of the staff."

"And you want me to go sweet talk them because you're not so good at that sort of thing?" Marie asked as sweetly and sarcasticlly as she could.

"Yes." As usual he either missed her tone or ignored it.

"Alright. I'd do anything for that poor girl."

"That brings me to my second point." Stein's mouth spread into a terrifying grin.

* * *

"W-what? D-do you r-really m-mean that?" Crona was standing in front of her tall blonde E.A.T. Teacher.

"Yes. We really mean it. Believe it or not, it was actually Franken's idea. I was as surprised as you, but I agreed immediately, and I wish I had thought of it myself. At the very least, come to his office with me so he can say it himself." Crona could only nod and walk silently behind her.

"Pr-professor Stein said that?" Marie turned her head and nodded over her shoulder, smiling brightly.

It took only a minute to reach the closet-like office of the meister in question.

"Franken, Crona is here!" The door opened and the two were greated with a large yawn and a hazy stare before Stein blinked and smiled in a manner that no one but Marie had seen before. It wasn't scary or sinister, only warm, and a little sad.

"Crona, no one should go through life with no where to call home and no one to call their family. Even I had parents who cared for me despite my flaws. And I am sure that wherever they are now, they are watching me with horror and pride in equal magnitudes. You're fifteen. Only a few more years and you'll be an adult. But until that time, I would like to ask you if you would like to be a part of our family?"

Crona couldn't keep her mouth from falling open in surprise. Marie just beamed at the man she had grown so attached to. He considered her his family, and he had even extended that offer to a child in need. She'd been told he had no love to give. She believed quite differently.

"Y-you want me to live with you? Even after all i've done? You would call me family?" Crona was shaking now, trying to keep from crying.

"Yes. We've all made mistakes. I know we are far from an ideal family, but I wouldn't pick anyone in the world to replace either of you. What do you say?" Stein leaned on the door frame and watched the girl before him with his calculating eyes, never missing a detail.

"I... I... Thank you... I couldn't imagine a better family..." Crona's face spilt into radiant smile and her tears began slipping down her cheeks. Marie enveloped her in a hug and Stein let out a small chuckle.

"We already have a room cleared for you. It may take some getting used to, but I hope you can come to see it as your home." Marie squeazed the girl close. She'd always imagined having a husband and a child. A home and a family. Now she had it. Maybe not exactly how she had imagined it, but she was with a man she loved, who loved her back in the only way he could. She had a girl who needed cared for who had allowed her to be that caretaker. She lived in a lab with a mad scientist and a former enemy, and she was happier than she had ever been.

* * *

It had been a month since she had moved in, and already it felt like home. A safe haven where the people who loved her would always be to welcome her back with open arms. She had been pursuing various fields with many of her professors, learning techniques to fight and preform other special tasks without a partner. She was still deciding what path she wanted to follow, but she was quickly narrowing down her options.

She looked around her room. It was the first time in her life she had a room to call her own. She had chosen her own bedsheets. She had decorated it herself, with Maka and Soul's help. She had even let Kid come and give it his seal of approval. Of course that was before she rearranged the furniture into a less symetrical layout to give herself a lot of open space.

Stein had given her a welcoming gift after her first week that had not left her grasp at night for the three weeks since. A stuffed plush wolf with crisscross threads running across it in several spots. She had giggled at the designs that made it so unique to the family that had adopted her and immediately decided it would be staying on her bed for the forseeable future. She named it Stitches.

She had expanded her wardrobe after shopping with Maka, Marie, Tsubaki, and Kid. She disguarded the ancient black robe that she had worn since she was a child and began wearing white as often as possible, both to contrast with her past and spite her mother's dark theme, as well to match the generally sterile white surrounding of her new home.

With a home and a family to go along with the friends and freedom she now experienced, came a new found confidence that never approached arrogance or pride, but was enough to let her walk with her head up and a smile on her face for the first time in her life.

It wasn't until her second month of individual study that she made a decision on what she wanted to do. Research. She would become a scientist. Stein finally got to experience what it was like to feel pride in someone. He presented her with her own white lab coat, free of stitches. He took her as an apprentice in his lab, teaching her everything he knew, and helped her personally as she struggled to master using her wavelength as a tool and weapon.

Now she was seventeen years old. Still attending classes with her friends, but branching out from their courses as she focused on her own path. She had finally become comfortable calling Marie "Mom", but always addressed Stein as "Professor". It never sounded formal though. She said it with as much warmth and adoration as any child would address her father.

Maka had reached the rank of three star meister and long since turned Soul into a death scythe. Crona had grown very close to all of her friends, particularly Maka and Kid. She worked three days a week in the lab as Steins apprentice and assistant, learning from him and helping him and showing an amount of trust in the man most others would not dream of.

Never once did he try to experiment on her in her sleep. Never once did he consider disectin is surrogate wife and child. He was still regarded as a terrifying individual, and with good reason. Now that he had a family to protect, he would not be a man to trifle with.

Crona was still shy, but no longer depressed. She was still working on improving her confidence, but she no longer cowered before those who looked her way. She was never going to be as outgoing as Black Star or as cool and laid back as Soul, but with the help of her friends, she was as compassionate as Maka and Marie, and as logical and soothing as Kid and Stein.

She had learned the basics of manipulating her wavelength, and could even hold her own against some of the one star meister weapon pairs, but her skills still paled in comparison to Stein's. He insisted she was making excellent progress and it would take time and practice, especially without a partner. She accepted the praise and set to work practicing, every morning and every night.

With only one year left until she would graduate, Crona finally felt like she belonged.


	2. Chapter 2

Crona yawned and stretched, then looked out the window as she quickly turned off her alarm clock. She loved having a window. She'd never had a window before. Not one like this anyway. Not one that overlooked a beautiful grassy hill with a few trees at the edge of Death City. She smiled and stood up, carefully setting Stitches back in the middle of the bed.

She went to the bathroom and showered, using a new shampoo Marie had bought for her. It matched the laundry detergent, which she thought was a little overboard, but she liked it. It smelled like strawberries, which she loved. She went back to her room and got dressed, enjoying the bright sky blue shirt's contrast to the black robe she still kept in the back of her closet.

She could smell the enticing scent of Marie's cooking coming up from the kitchen as she pulled her white coat over her shoulders and picked up her back pack. She stopped at the door and turned back to her room, smiling as she did nearly every morning at how much her life had changed.

"Good morning Crona! You're up early this morning!" Marie smiled at her as she stepped off the stairs.

"Good morning! I've got to get to the academy early today, Maka and I have a project we're working on for Professor Nygus." Crona sat at the table and set her backpack between her feet as she took a drink from her glass of milk. She had been trying to improve her physical health diligently since she had been separated from Ragnarok.

She was still very thin, her naturally high metabolism and her habitually small diet, combined with her physical training kept her frame smaller than most, but she was healthier than she had ever been. Marie set a plate of food in front of her and she began eating immediately. When she finished she went into the lab.

Stein was snoring quietly, his head on his crossed arm, his favorite scalpel grasped loosely in his right hand. Crona smiled and moved the scalpel carefully before shaking him gently by the shoulder. He groaned.

"Morning..." The mad scientist raised his head and yawned.

"Good morning professor. Want me to bring you a plate?" Crona smiled as he looked around for his scalpel and immediately went back to work dissecting a strange plant that had been brought to him for inspection.

"Sure, thank you. Leaving early today?" Crona nodded and went to bring him breakfast. When she came back, it was impossible to tell he had been sound asleep moments before.

"Yes, Maka and I are finishing up our project this morning before class." Stein pushed the tray with his victim back on the table and began eating. The two walked to the academy together most days, unless Crona wanted to get there early, or wait and walk with her classmates. Along the way, they would talk about Crona's classes, Steins experiments, or sometimes He would quiz her over things he was teaching her.

"Could you deliver my report to Lord Death then? He wanted it as soon as possible and Marie wants to drag me to the store with her before we go to the school, and I know she will not let me go early." Crona nodded happily and accepted the folder.

"Of course. Also, I practiced the new wavelength technique for a few hours last night and I think I've got it!" Crona tucked the folder carefully into her backpack and then concentrated. Stein turned in his chair to watch, a look of interest on his face.

In her hand, threads of soft pink light converged and took shape into a perfect imitation of his scalpel. He smiled and clapped. She grinned brightly and the tool disappeared.

"Well done. I didn't expect you to master that much so quickly. This weekend we can expand on that technique. You should go now. Marie will be coming to get me any moment now, you're likely to get caught in the net." Stein pushed his half eaten breakfast to the side and pulled his experiment close again.

Crona made her way to Maka's apartment quickly, meeting her friend just as she stepped out the door. The first thing Crona noticed was the scowl on Maka's face.

"Hey Maka, what's wrong?" The blonde girl looked up and smiled.

"It's nothing, just arguing with Soul. How are you this morning?" Maka glanced back at the building with an irritated expression before falling into step beside her best friend.

"Great! I really impressed Professor Stein this morning. He thought it would take me the whole week to master a new technique and I got it in one night!" Crona said proudly. She never felt bad for bragging to the blonde girl. They both knew the others strengths and weaknesses better than nearly everyone. Soul would be the one exception. Maka always made her feel comfortable feeling pride in her building talents.

"That's awesome! Show me!" Maka became excited. Many of the things Crona was learning were well beyond her, since they were directed toward a different field, or for compensation of fighting without a partner, but she was still fascinated by all of it, and could occasionally gain some insight into the mechanics of wavelength usage by watching and talking with the girl.

"Alright, can I see your necklace?" Crona pointed at the small music note hanging against her friend's chest. Maka pulled the chain over her head and passed it over. Crona held it, examined it carefully, and returned it. As Maka put it back on, Crona focused on her empty palm and created a perfect glowing pink replica.

"Crona that is amazing! Can I touch it?" Crona smiled and lifted it from her hand, holding it out to her fellow meister. Maka grinned. "It even feels like real metal! And it gets warm when I hold onto it for a bit!" Crona's concentration broke and the necklace vanished.

"I'm learning the properties of metal, and a big part of this technique is understanding. You can only make something realistic to the extent you understand it. I've still got a lot of work to do though." Crona began walking again, keeping in step with Maka.

"It's amazing what you can do with you wavelength already! They don't teach us as much about that while we're still at this level. When you become as good as Professor Stein, you'll have to teach me!" Maka was smiling at the thought of learning beyond what her teachers expected of her. Crona laughed.

"I don't know if I will ever be as good as he is. He can do some really amazing things with his. He's had years of research and experience and practice. My goal is to discover or create a technique that I can teach to him!" Crona looked at her friends surprised face and giggled. Maka was so adorable sometimes.

"You want to be able to teach him something?! Wouldn't that be even harder than matching him?" Maka stared in amazement at her friend. Crona shook her head.

"You're way smarter than me, but I could teach you some small things that you don't know. It's like that. I won't be as good as him, but I'll be different. You see?" Maka smiled and giggled.

"You're all about as different as they come, but yeah, I see what you mean. That is a good goal. I bet you'll manage it too! You are learning from several different professors, so you might be able to combine what some of them teach you to make something new." Crona glowed at her friend's praise and confidence.

"I've got to deliver something to Lord Death, so i'll meet you in the library soon, okay?" Crona said as they reached the academy.

"Yeah, i'll get everything set up and ready!" They parted ways at the top of the stairs.

* * *

_Click... click... click... click... click... click..._

The class fell silent as the sound radiated from the front of the room. Black Star had been midway into leaping from a higher row of seats down onto Soul's desk, but stopped and slid quietly back into his desk as he caught the glare of the irritated teacher.

"Now, today I will be teaching the meisters a new technique. All weapons are to use this as a study period. You may not leave the class room until the end of the period." Stein took a deep breath and tried to let go of his irritation.

"Please form groups of three and come down to the floor. Crona, you've already had some experience with this, but you may participate as well for practice." The girl nodded happily. He would often ask her to study something separately when it was an excercize that involved a weapon or she had already mastered, so she was always happy when he let her join in.

"You will be resonating with your fellow meisters today to solve various problems. This is an unusual technique, but one that might help you out someday. You will take turns leading. While the rest of the group clears their mind, the leader will use their teammates wavelengths and soul resonance energy as an extension of their own. This is very difficult for both parties. Surendering control of your own mind, body, and soul to another requires an enormous amount of trust, while usuing such power is like weilding a weapon far larger and heavier than what you've ever touched before."

Crona, Kid, and Maka stood together, listening carefully to what the teacher was saying. The son of Lord Death, Stein's apprentice, and the top of the class. If any group were going to manage this, it would be them.

"You can not actively force resonance from all sides. The group needs to clear their minds, then one of the group will initialize the resonance between the others. At that point, the last member will clear their mind and allow the resonance to spread to them as well. I expect all of you to make it to this point today. This is a very different form of resonance, resembling more of a cloud than a web. You may begin."

Around the room, each group was trying to clear their mind. By the end of the period, every group, including Black Star's had managed at least this much. Crona's group, on the other hand, had managed to even use the technique briefly. Kid had taken the first turn, and after a few failed attempts, managed to direct the combined force of their wavelengths. To his surprise, he was able to create a gun in his hand from the energy, and fired it a couple of times, feeling it behave exactly as his partners.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, while in this state, you will be able to use abilities that any one of you has mastered, and even use different people's skills in combinations that would have been impossible alone." Stein laughed at the looks of surprise coming from the one successful group.

After class, they went to the roof for lunch. Their weapons, Black Star, and Tsubaki joined them.

"Crona, I had no idea you could do that. That is a very impressive skill." Kid complimented her as he carefully ate his food from each side equally, keeping it symmetrical as much as possible. She smiled at him and blushed slightly.

"Thank you. I'm still working on it though. I couldn't have done something as complicated as a gun, and I definitely couldn't have shot one. That was all your doing." She looked away shyly. Kid smiled warmly at her.

"It was a team effort. Maka's anti-magic wavelength makes excellent ammunition. We would make an effective team in combat, I think." Kid said thoughtfully as he finished his meal and looked over at his two weapons. Maka laughed and handed part of her lunch to her weapon. Soul smiled and ate it gratefully. He had been hungry, but unwilling to wait in the long line. Maka never let him get away without something to eat though.

"Hey Crona, are you going to come over tonight? We're having a party for Liz and Patty's birthday!" Maka asked after glaring at her weapon for a moment.

"Sure, i'll let Professor Stein know before he leaves. I'll be a little late, I have to go and pick up their presents." Crona said as she finished her small lunch. Maka nodded.

"I'm going to stay in the library for a little while and finish the paper for Professor Mjolnir before I go home, so you can meet me back here when you're done. It's more fun to walk with company!" Maka said brightly.

"Alright! That's great, I have to walk back past here to get to your apartment anyway!" Crona smiled, then yawned. "I stayed up too late last night." She laughed.

"Would you mind if I accompanied you to the store? Liz and Patty will spend the whole evening getting ready for their party, so I have nothing to do at home." Kid asked politely. Crona blushed slightly and nodded.

"Sure, you can tell me if I am getting a really bad gift!" Kid shook his head at her.

"You are remarkable adept at selecting presents for everyone. I should have come to _you_ for advice on what to get them." The young shinigami stood up and stretched as he looked over at his two weapons again. Crona looked between him and the girls, wondering exactly what he was thinking about. She had to admit, he was becoming very handsome.

* * *

The walk to the store was pleasant, the sky clear, and the last warm breezes of summer washing over them. Kid talked quietly about various things. He was extremely calming and insightful when he wasn't obsessing about symmetry. She had even chosen a mostly symmetrical array of garments just so her conversations with him would be more comfortable. Of course, she'd never admit to that.

She had kept a few people in mind when she chose her new wardrobe. She imagined each person's most likely opinions on each piece before she decided yes or no. She would always invision Kid admiring symmetry, Professor Stein prefering sterile white, Marie promoting bright colors, like yellow. Maka adoring the lighter colors, like sky blue, or pink, Ragnarok complaining about the attention she would get if it were too revealing, and her mother hating every bit of it.

She did have a few garments that went against some of these rules, mostly specific for certain people, just in case she ever wanted to dress to any of their tastes. She had a black and orange dress that she had worn to Soul's birthday, and a rather revealing swim suit she had gotten when Blair invited them all to the beach.

But today, she was glad she was dressed symmetrically. She had grown closer to Kid during her time at DWMA, and could honestly say he was one of the two people she felt any kind of romantic attraction towards. However, where her other object of affection was definitely out of reach, she wasn't entirely sure where Kid stood with his weapons.

"What did you get for Liz and Patty?" Crona looked at Kid as he laughed softly. She loved his voice. She had thought Marie was silly when she had said the very same thing about Professor Stein, but it made more sense to her now.

"I got Patty a new paint set, since she used all of the last one, and I got Liz a perfectly symmetrical silk dress. She had wanted it a few weeks ago but we were in the middle of a mission, and she never went back afterward to get it. At least I hope she didn't, or she may be slightly disappointed." He looked sheepish and Crona giggled. He was rarely this open with his emotions around the others. He always tried to be the best example of calm, cool, and collected when he was in any sort of group. But one on one, he could be very different.

"Those sound like really good gifts! I want to get Patty something with giraffes on it, and I found a perfume that I know Liz likes, so I wanted to find her a bottle of it." Crona had discovered that fact when she had worn one of Marie's winter coats and Liz had noticed the smell.

"Both good choices. Patty is easy to buy for. As long as it involves giraffes, she is almost always happy. Well... she is almost always happy anyway." Kid laughed and Crona smiled even wider. "The only reason I didn't go that route is because i've already given her so many stuffed giraffes that it wouldn't even seem like a birthday present."

"I'll keep that in mind, I was thinking stuffed, but I would like to get her something a little different." Crona looked lost in thought for a moment, but another quiet laugh brought her out of it.

"She is always happy to have more stuffed animals. I am not sure if she is a bit odd for that, or if Liz is the odd one for not having any." Kid smiled at her. She blushed and looked at her toes.

"I have one." She looked up to see him grinning.

"What is it?"

"A wolf. I call him Stitches." She was trying not to feel like the most ridiculous person on earth.

"It suits you, I think." He laughed at her small giggle. "I mean it. Wolves are as graceful and elegant as cats, but more social. More adept at teamwork, and more interested in companionship. It suits you well."

"Thanks, Kid." She was smiling happily now, thrilled that he thought so highly of her.

"We're here. We should hurry, Liz and Patty will be mad if I am late, and Maka won't be much longer at the library." The two hurried into the store.

* * *

Maka, Crona, and Kid arrived only minutes before the sisters were due to show up. They went inside to find the rest of the group already there. Even Blair had canceled her shift at Chupa Cabra's to join them. Liz and Patty walked in ten minutes later, dressed symmetrically, and both looking like models. Soul, Black Star, and Kid stared in amazement at their outfits.

"Wow, you guys look amazing!" Tsubaki came over to inspect their dresses happily, walking in circles around them, no doubt wondering if she would catch Black Star's attention so well in the same thing. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Thanks! I picked these out a while ago and was waiting for a special occasion to wear them! Turning eighteen seemed like a pretty good occasion!" Liz was thrilled with the attention, and happily accompanied her sister into the party.

Crona felt lightly jealous of the sisters' attention grabbing dresses, especially when Kid had his attention focused on them completely, but felt that jealousy melt away when Maka took a seat right next to her.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Maka picked one of the cracker off the plate before her and nibbled on it. Crona nodded and smiled.

"Yes, thank you for inviting me." Crona felt warm sitting so close to the girl. They were pressed side to side because of all the people on the sofa. Crona also noticed that it was Tsubaki on the blonde girl's other side, not Soul.

"It's no problem. You know you are always welcome to join us, I just don't get as many opportunities to talk with you now that we're in a lot of separate classes. I'm glad we had lunch together so I could invite you!" Maka leaned against Crona as she talked, bringing her lips slightly closer to her friend's ear as she tried to be heard over the sounds of the party without shouting. Crona blushed again, but couldn't make herself lean away.

"Maybe we should find time to hang out more outside of school then. I'm usually busy on the weekends and wednesday evenings, but the rest of my days are pretty open after school." Crona was mentally crossing her fingers that the girl would accept the offer. Maka grinned and nodded eagerly.

"That would be awesome! Tomorrow after school?" Maka's suggestion made Crona's heart leap with excitement.

"Sure! Where would you like to go?" Crona wasn't even aware that Kid had stopped adoring his weapons and moved closer to her before getting trampled by Black Star and Soul.

"Hmmm... Black Star drops by a lot on fridays, so could we hang out at your house? Would that be okay with Professor Stein and Marie?" Maka asked, looking at the two rowdy guys in the room the back at Crona.

"Yeah, I think so. I can ask tonight though, and let you know tomorrow. If not, we can go to the park or something. It's still really nice out, for being so late in the year." The pink haired girl was having trouble sitting still now, filled with anticipation and excitement.

"Hey Crona, would you like to go out? You look hot." Kid immediately growned and smacked his forehead. He would have sworn that Black Star had spiked the drinks if he were capable of getting drunk. "I mean, you're a bit red, and it is really warm in here, would you like to step outside for a minute before they start opening their presents?"

Crona had nearly choked on a cracker at the young shinigami's original statement. It had seemed so out of character for him that she would have suspected a trick had she not been trying not to inhale crumbs at the moment.

"Oh, yeah. I'll be back in a few minutes Maka!" The blonde just nodded her acknowledgment as she tried not to laugh at Crona's coughing fit. Crona followed Kid out the door and inhaled deeply. She hadn't noticed just how hot it had been in there.

"I'm sorry, my mouth decided not to wait for my brain to give commands. Do you feel better?" Kid leaned against the railing of the stairs and looked at her with a smile. She nodded and smiled back, then noticed something.

"No wonder it felt so warm, i'm still wearing my coat!" Crona laughed and slipped the white material off her shoulders and folded it neatly, draping it over her arm and enjoying the cool air on her arms. She sighed.

"You know, that coat suits you very well too. Professor Stein has been teaching you well. It is impressive how much you've learned. Even my father is considering creating new courses at the academy just for you." Kid stretched and looked up at the dimming sky. "I love the sunset."

"Me too, and thank you. It's been amazing, being able to study under someone who knows so much. He's really an excellent teacher if you're willing to learn. And a lot more patient one on one." She laughed a little as she moved to Kid's railing and looked at the fading sun next to him. "You'll have to come to my house sometime. The view of the sunset out my window is amazing. It's even better on the roof. It is really nice living at the edge of the city sometimes, even if it is a longer walk to school."

"That would be nice... I've been taking every excuse to be away from the mansion lately. I don't even know why half the time. Liz and Patty just drive me crazy sometimes. Being indoors... It becomes exhausting. I didn't get to spend as much time outside as I would have liked this last summer."

"I remember, you were busy almost every time we went out somewhere..." Crona looked at Kid in profile. He nodded sadly.

"Father had me helping him in the dungeon of the academy with some of the magic tools. We're neutrilizing them and containing them so they can do no further harm, but some would be to dangerous for an ordinary human. My shinigami body gives me immunity to many things, so I was the only one who could help."

Crona smiled reassuringly up at him.

"Don't worry. I'm sure things will get better. Besides, Liz and Patty are your partners. They might get on your nerves occasionally, but it will blow over. You've shared your soul wavelengths afterall." Kid laughed.

"I've also shared soul wavelengths with Black Star, it does not make him any less irritating, but you're right. Patty, Liz, and I have been through a lot together. And what's bothering me isn't their fault. It's a personal issue I need to sort out. Come on. We should hurry or they'll start without us." Kid opened the door for her, and followed her in.

* * *

"What happened?" Crona asked her best friend as they walked.

"We decided that we had some issues to sort out as friends and as partners, and it would be easier to fix them if we weren't worrying about anything romantic in addition. Once things are better between us in those areas, we'll think about dating again. Don't worry, i'm fine." Maka smiled reassuringly at her, but Crona could tell that it hurt.

"While you're apart, will either of you date other people?" Maka laughed.

"We decided that we would only date if the other was okay with it. He immediately said no to Black Star, even though I wouldn't have considered that in a million years. I suggested he ask out Blair, but he said that the whole inter species thing was "not cool". Blair isn't interested anyway. She just likes teasing him." Maka was walking on autopilot and Crona had to tug on her arm to get her to turn. Maka shook her head and looked around.

"We're almost there. We have to turn here, remember?" Crona laughed at her friends embarrased face.

"Sorry, I got distracted." Maka smiled and turned a bit pink as she once again began walking beside her best friend. "So... speaking of dating, are you and Kid together?" Crona stubbled as her feet stopped obeying her for a moment.

"What? No... Why would you think that?" Maka laughed at her friends embarrassed blush. Crona was trying not to think about any of her romantic interests right now, willing the pink tinge in her cheeks to go away.

"Because you two are really close, and he's the only guy I ever see you hang around a lot. Well except for Soul... Wait, do you want to go out with Soul?!" Maka looked shocked. Crona immediately shook her head.

"No! I never had any feelings for Soul! I promise!" She felt like if she didn't make that abundantly clear, Maka would hate her.

"So it is Kid!" Maka stated with a grin. Crona sighed.

"I... I guess I do sort of like him, but no, we're not dating. I think he likes Liz anyway. And i'm still trying to figure out exactly what people I am attracted to before I decide to really pursue one." Crona looked down as she walked.

"So, who else do you like? Maybe I can help." Crona couldn't help but giggle.

"I don't think so..." Crona looked away as she noticed how beautiful Maka looked in her light blue shirt and blue jeans. She could even see the edge of a bright pink bra peaking out from the neck.

"Come on Crona, I promise I'll keep it a secret, and I won't even give you my opinion if you prefer. But I like to know who my friends like!" Maka moved to Crona's other side, smiling as she locked eyes with her again. Crona stared for a moment before turning back the otherway.

"I'm pretty sure you'd rather not know this time. It won't help in any way. Just forget about it." Crona and Maka were almost to the house now.

"Please Crona... What if I know who likes you, and you tell me, and I know that they like you back?" Crona giggled at her friend's determination but still shook her head. Maka sighed and looked away, a small frown passing over her face. Crona stared a her then gritted her teeth.

"You."

"What about me?"

"You're the other person I like."


	3. Chapter 3

"M-me?" Maka gaped at her best friend, who would not turn to face her. She only nodded, and Maka could see her shoulders beginning to shake. She stood, frozen in place, the true meaning of her friend's confession running through her mind.

_She... likes me... _

_Crona likes me... _

_She likes me in the same way she likes Kid..._

_Is... _

_Is that alright? _

_Do I like her back? _

_Of course I do... but in the same way? _

_I don't know... _

_Is she attractive? _

_Yes... She's always been beautiful in a certain way, but these last few years, she's become truly breathtaking... _

_Would you think about her like that if you weren't attracted to her? _

_I don't know..._

_Do you care about her? _

_Yes! _

_Does she mean as much to you as any guy? _

_Of course! _

_If she kissed you, right now, what would you do? _

_I..._

_I..._

_I think... _

_I..._

_I think I would... _

_Kiss her back._

Maka felt her shoulders relax as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms protectively around her friend.

"Crona, you don't need to cry."

"You... You don't hate me?" Crona sniffed and looked up at her in surprise.

"Of course not silly! You're my best friend!" Crona smiled slightly and leaned into the embrase, closing her eyes and letting her breathing fall back to normal.

"Thank you, Maka... I don't know if I could deal with losing your friendship..." Crona hugged her back gently, enjoying the warmth spreading through her body and the soft sweet smell of Maka's hair. "Oranges... You smell nice..."

"Thanks. Soul loves black and orange, and I actually only got this shampoo so it would match the rest of the things he has in our apartment. Yours smells nicer..." Maka was surprised to find she really didn't want to pull away from her friend. She was enjoying feeling so close to her.

"We... We should move. Do... you still want to stay and hang out? Even knowing that I..." Maka put a finger over the girl's lips and smiled.

"Yes. Come on, lets go in. Wait! Here." She reached up and gently wiped the tears from Crona's cheeks, then, without thinking, stepped forward and brushed her lips against the stunned girl's cheek.

* * *

"Today we will be learning another technique that is for meisters only. Don't worry, Lord Death is working on adding a new class for these techniques, but for now, the weapons will have to suffer through sitting quietly a bit longer." Stein sounded almost bored as he spun slowly in his chair.

"This technique is called Resonance Feedback. It is extremely dangerous. It is very hard to control, and can cause serious damage to both the meister, their weapon, or any unfortunate soul standing nearby should the technique go out of control." The room fell silent, even the weapons and rowdy students listening intently.

"To preform this technique, you will force resonance with yourself, causeing a feedback loop similar to holding a linked speaker and microphone against each other. This will vastly amplify your power for a very short time, but unless you are prepared for that much power, it will be impossible to contain or direct it, resulting in a wavelength explosion. This can be _fatal_." Stein stared intently at his class.

"You will first get into groups of three, then you will go through the exercizes of Passive Resonance again, to prepare yourselves for the power you will be controling. After that, you will take turns. One will attempt the technique, while the other two use their own wavelengths to contain any mishaps. Understood? You are not to attempt this technique without my supervision!" Stein raised his voice, ensuring no one could claim ignorance. Even Black Star nodded his acknowledgment.

"Alright, lets get started. First, a demonstration. Those of you who can see soul energy, please allow those who can not to resonate with you and observe the technique." The class moved into positions so that everyone was near a person capable of seeing soul energy. When they were settled and ready, the scientist stood.

From were Maka stood, she saw the man standing there, his blazing energy an intimidating sight in itself. Then, he clapped his hands together and focused his wavelength along his arms. At the collision, the orb of power surrounding him expanded to at least ten times normal, causing those in the front half of the stands to shiver as they were caught within the field.

After a few moments, Stein turned his head to a block of iron sitting on his table. In an instant, the incredible power rushed out of him and hit the block in a tight mesh of threads that instantly turned it to fine powder. The class clapped.

"That was... scary... It's easy to forget he is the most powerful meister to ever graduate from this academy. When Lord Death would consider sparring with him, he must be a force to be reckoned with." Maka sat in her seat, her eyes wide, like most of her classmates, at the event she had just witnessed. Crona nodded dumbly. She trained with Stein every week, and had never seen his exhibit that much power.

"I have never seen my father use that technique. Not even against Asura. I wonder if it is too destructive, or if even he has not mastered it? He has always prefered to fight with a scythe, but I am curious if even that could match the power he just exhibited." Kid was staring intently at the professor, a look of concentration on his face.

"I'll be able to do that in no time!" Black Star crowed proudly, as Tsubaki still stared speechlessly at the front of the room.

Maka, Crona, and Kid formed a group and quickly cycled through their Passive Resonance practices. It was Maka's turn to go first with the new technique. Crona and Kid both gave her reassuring smiles. From the rows of seats, Soul was on the edge of his seat, waiting to run to her aid should his meister come into harms way.

By the end of the period, not a single person had managed the technique to any observable degree. Stein waved them out with a sigh.

* * *

"Crona, I think you may find this interesting. A few decades back, there was a spacial-temporal distortion in germany that I was sent to investigate. There are records showing that this event has occurred several times throughout Germany's history, but the only thing I found during my investigation was a book that showed partial information on various abilities. I know you are curious about the ways one can modify and combine certain techniques, so you may find recreating these an engaging challenge." Stein handed the teenager a thick book. Crona grinned widely and held it close to her chest.

"Thank you! I'll start working on it right away!" She turned to go to her room and examine the book, but Stein put a hand on her shoulder.

"Would you like to join me for some practice? I'd like to talk about something with you." Crona nodded reluctantly. She knew what it was, and she was terrified to find out what her surrogate father would have to say on the subject.

When they reached the usual spot, Stein wearing his usual lose fitting pants, and Crona in a non restrictive tank top and shorts, the man turned and stared at her for a few long moment.

"You really like Maka, don't you?" Crona nodded, torn between looking away, and keeping eye contact.

"And you like Kid Death as well?" Another nod.

"They both return your affections to some degree?"

Nod.

"Of the two options, you chose the one that came with the highest risk in every aspect of your life. Your friendship with Maka if it is to go poorly, your friendship with Soul should jealousy out weigh his concern for Maka's happiness, your friendship with Kid if his jealousy gets the better of him, you reputation amoung your classmates and teachers, and your image to both Marie and myself."

A slow, shaky nod.

"Can you tell me why you made that decision? Don't make something up if you don't know. Be honest. Why did you chose the more difficult path? For the challenge? To know the answers that awaited down that road?" Stein's voice wasn't accusatory or prying. It wasn't mocking or judging. Just curious, and maybe concerned.

"I... I chose it, because of a principal you taught me. 'Risk versus reward'. The risk was highest with her, so it stood to reason, that the opposite must be true. If taking a chance with her held the greatest potential for pain, it must also hold the greatest potential for happiness." Crona felt her body relax as she raised her head and looked more firmly into the man's eyes.

For a few long moments, Stein only watched her, observing her every breath, every twitch, and every shiver. Then he removed his glasses and smiled warmly at her.

"Well said. That is exactly why I allowed myself to fall in love with Marie. I want your opinion on something else as well. Do you think she will like this?" Stein pulled a small box from his pocket and held it open before Crona's eyes. The pink haired girl smiled with childish excitement.

"Yes! She'll love it!"

* * *

"Grrrah! This is so frustrating! What kind of "scientist" could stand to leave such useless notes on their work?!" Crona slumped onto her desk, her fingers sliding up through her hair as she glared at the book. She had several other books, relating to chemistry and soul resonance setting open around her, along with two notebooks filled with her own thoughts.

Maka stretched and rolled off her girlfriend's bed, walking over and wrapping her arms around Crona's neck, and kissing her shoulder once.

"It's alright. Take a break. You've been at it for hours, and I just finished my homework." Crona took a deep breath and closed the book with a thump, leaning back into the embrace and smiling weakly.

"I just don't know how to deal with not understanding this... It's such a mess. It seems simple, but it has so many holes in it that I can't decipher it. I may have gotten all I can from this book. I guess i'll have to start using what I already know to stitch together the gaps." Crona stood up and shrugged off her white coat, drapping it over the back of her chair, then turning to pull Maka into a more intimate hug.

"Don't work yourself to death. Marie will be furious if I let you become as much of a workaholic as Professor Stein!" Maka giggled as the lanky girl kissed her nose and grinned at her.

"He's doing better about that since they finally got married. He actually sleeps in their bed a couple of nights a week now. They've both been a lot happier too." Maka kissed Crona's neck several times, stopping the stream of words immediately as the scientist in training let her head roll back, exposing more skin to the assault.

"Its getting late. We should go down and eat before bed. Another bad habit you're picking up." Crona laughed and sighed as the warm lips moved away from her neck.

"I'm sorry. I can't help it. It's so addicting, solving puzzles like this. Learning new things. It's fun! I understand why my dad is always elbow deep in his work now." The pink haired girl kissed Maka gently on the lips twice before leading the way downstairs for dinner.

* * *

"Dad I think I have it! You've got to see this, it is really cool!" Crona ran down the stairs and into the lab with a grin on her face and a pile of books under her arm. Stein turned and grinned at her, his own curiosity coming to the surface in an instant.

"Oh? What have you discovered? Something from that book?" Crona nodded excitedly and set her books down, holding out the one in question and a notebook page.

"I think they use this combination of techniques to rearrange and move atoms of different elements into different shapes, but they didn't recognize what they were doing as what it was! They used a strangely specific form of Wavelength Binding to focus their power on the task. They called the practice 'Alchemy', and since they didn't understand all the fundamentals, they needed to use symbols and words in circular arrays to get the desired results. There were a few records of people who could do this without the arrays, so I am almost certain i'm right! I wanted you to watch the first time, so we can find out together!" Crona was almost bouncing up and down as she pulled a block of metal from her pocket.

Stein sat back and watched with increasing interest as she clapped her hands together and then touched the metal. There was a crackling light and then the metal had elongated into a perfect scalpel. Stein's jaw dropped.

"Crona, that is incredible!" The girl grinned even wider, handing the scalpel over for inspection.

"That's not all! I think with our more advanced understanding of subatomic particles, we could use this ability far more effectively than it's inventors ever did. They could not change between elements. We could. They established three steps of 'understanding, deconstruction, reconstruction' as the basis of their ability. Our understanding is greater, so our ability is greater!"

"This is excellent work Crona! I'm very proud of you! I would like you to present your work to Lord Death tomorrow, if you are willing!" Crona nodded, overjoyed and bursting with pride at Stein's words. She had accomplished something he had not. She was able to teach him something.


	4. Chapter 4

"These alchemists used a combination of resonance and wavelength manipulation techniques in order to preform their alchemy. First, they would draw a circular array containing the instructions of the intended transmutation. Then, using the medium on which the array was drawn as a conduit, they would use a weaker version of Resonance Feedback and Wavelength Binding to execute their transmutation, directing both their own soul energy and the energy of the earth beneath them to rearrange matter for their own purposes. They discovered that the technique required three steps. Understanding, deconstruction, and reconstruction. They held the idea of equivalent exchange as an absolute truth, believing nothing could be gained without first giving something in return."

Crona stood with her hands clasped behind her back, trying her best not to show how nervous she was. Before her stood Professor Stein, Spirit Albarn, Professor Sid, Death Scythe Azusa, and Lord Death, all watching her intently. Stein had a proud smile on his face that looked eery even to Crona with his glasses reflecting the light.

"In addition, these alchemists either existed before the creation of demon weapons, or lived somewhere without them, as they make no mention of them. They were a group of meisters of incredible skill, but limited understanding. With the advances our civilization has made in chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, and soul resonance, I think these abilities could be used to even greater effect. I'd like to be able to continue studying this subject to see if I can uncover any more secrets about this lost art."

Crona bit her lip anxiously as she watched the five members of her audience process what they had heard.

Then they clapped. Even Spirit, who seemed less than thrilled that his daughter had started dating someone new right after he had begun to accept Soul, and a girl at that, clapped for her presentation. Crona smiled and let out a breath she hadn't intended to hold.

"This is excellent work, Crona. Stein had taught you very well indeed. You have my full support to continue your research, and I would appreciate updates on any progress. Once you have fleshed out more of the finer points of this skill, we may be able to begin teaching it at the academy!" Lord Death gave her a thumbs up.

"That wasn't half bad, Crona. Maka wasn't kidding when she said you were smart. Well done." Spirit smiled at the girl.

"If you need any help on this, just ask. I'd be glad to help any way I can. You don't have to worry so much about accidents with me, since I'm already dead." Sid smiled at her. She had gotten over the fact that he was blue and dead a while ago, but still wasn't entirely sure what to make of him. She knew that Stein had been the one to bring him back to this state, so she trusted him.

"If that is all, you should all get back to your classrooms, the day is about to begin." Lord Death dismissed them cheerfuly, and Crona walked out next to her teacher and father figure, he research notes tucked into her coat pocket, and a smile on her face.

* * *

"Attention! Students and staff, this is an emergency. Please do not panic. Three full fledged Keshins have appeared. Stein, Kid, Maka, Crona, Black Star, and their weapon partners are to report to the Death Room immediately." The announcement came out of nowhere over the intercoms.

"Hurry, the eight of you, come with me quickly." Stein was on his feet and heading toward the door in an instant. Withing minutes, all nine of them had gathered in the Death Room. Spirit was there as well, and Marie came in moments after them.

"Stein, you will be accompanied by both Marie and Spirit. You have always fought better with a scythe, but Marie's wavelength may be necessary to keep you from falling into the madness again. Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, and Patty, you will make up the second team. Crona, Maka, Soul, you will be the third." Lord Death did not have a hint of his usual humor about him. He radiated the power that a shinigami was known for.

"They came out of nowhere. We hadn't even registered them as eggs, so either something catastrophic happened, or a witch was hiding them. Whatever the case, be careful and don't let your guard down. I have a plane waiting for you. Sid will be piloting it. As a zombie, he is unaffected by the madness for the most part."

"Where are they?" Kid asked.

"Germany." Lord Death looked at Crona when he said this.

* * *

"They're monsters... They don't look anything like Asura." Maka looked up the street at two of the creatures, both enormous beasts, barely recognizable as former humans.

"Asura was a special case, given his power before the transformation and his unity with his weapon. These are most definitely Keshins." Stein stood tall, his normal sweater replaced with a thin, lightweight mesh he had created and wanted to field test. He reached up and turned the giant bolt in his head.

_Click... click... click... click... click... click..._

"Stick to your groups and watch your backs and those of your friends. Don't let your Keshin attack someone else while they are busy with another. Maka, your anti magic wavelength is going to be invaluable to your team, be ready at all times. Kid, your shinigami body will give you resistance, so use that to your advantage. All of you! Remember, priority one is the destruction of all three Keshin, but you are to do everything in your power to assure that your team mates make it back. They will be relying on you as much as you will be on them." Stein held out his hands and Spirit and Marie transformed, falling into them. He attached the small hammer to his waist band, and gripped the scythe tightly.

"I'll go for the one that broke off from the group. Good luck." The senior meister took off down a side road towards the sounds of pain and destruction emanating from the Keshin's victims.

The others launched into the attack immediately. Crona used her wavelength to form a glowing sword in short burst long enough to strike and fall back. Maka danced close to the larger keshin, using her size to her advantage, cutting at it legs. They could hear the third keshin drawing closer as they fought.

Kid fired four shots before his power receded. He slumped against the nearest wall, catching his breath, when the Keshin he had injured attacked. Maka was thrown violently into the young shinigami, and the beast advanced on them in an instant.

Crona panicked. She was afraid her two closest friends were going to die. She ran at the first keshin, running through her options in her head. Her soul blades were not strong enough to stop it in time. She thought of her research. Of the advances she could make with more time. Then a thought struck her. No time like the present.

As she ran, she clapped her hands together and felt her soul energy multiply a dozen times over. She gritted her teeth against the buzzing in her bones and head, feeling the crackling of energy around her fingers. All she knew was that she had to stop the keshin immediately. She shouted loudly at the beast, causing it to turn toward her slowly. As soon as it did, she pressed her palm to its face and concentrated on the action she wanted to preform.

First, she drew a steam of metal, only atoms wide, and sent it to the other keshin, wrapping around its neck several times, while the free end was still clutched in her sparking fingers. Then she pulled the electrons from the first keshin and sent them down the wire in a bolt of lightning that would have put Zeus to shame. The first Keshin dissolved instantly into powder, unable to retain a shape with no chemical bonds. The second keshin burst into flames from the inside, charring in seconds as the enormous blast of electricity ripped through its body. In only seconds, two glowing red keshin souls hovered just over the ground.

The others stared at her in astonishment as she fell to her knees amongst the dust, shivering with adrenaline and fear. Soul was the first to recover and picked up the two souls, carrying them to Crona.

"These are yours. You earned them. And thanks for saving our skins." Crona looked up at him. She knew he was thanking her for saving Maka. Accepted the two souls. She looked at them for a moment, then opened her mouth and ate them. She had been united with Ragnarok for so long, she was able to eat souls like a weapon. She shuddered as the new boost in power flowed into her. She stood up and looked around. The powder had migrated to the charred remains, equalizing their charge quickly. Crona was glad that something more violent hadn't occurred.

"Crona that was amazing!" Maka threw her arms around the hero and kissed her softly before just holding her. Kid looked away, but still smiled.

"Yes, that was very impressive. Thank you for rescuing us." Crona pulled away from Maka for a moment and ran over, hugging the young shinigami tightly.

"You would have all done the same for me. That's what friends are for." She felt energized and alive. Kid blushed and laughed slightly.

"Yes, any one of us would have given our all to save you. You just so happen to have significantly more to give it would seem. Is that part of your research?" Crona nodded at Kid's question.

Crona walked back over to Maka and slipped her hand into the blonde's. Maka smiled and intertwined their fingers. Then Black Star ran out onto their street, the third Keshin right behind him. He was laughing like a mad man. Immediately after the keshin came Stein, his scythe raised high. With one swing, he cut the back two legs off the keshin, causing it to roar in pain and turn on him.

Black Star took the opportunity to cripple the beast further, attacking its front legs brutally. The keshin turned to him once again, but Stein did not give it enough time to roar. He clapped his hands together, causing a wave of soul energy to wash over the students. Then he gripped the scythe and unleashed his own Keshin Hunter technique on the monster. It was destroyed instantly.

"You guys finished before us?! No way!" Black Star looked slightly angered and slightly confussed that he had fallen behind them. His gaze was fixed on Kid and Maka, but they both pointed to their pink haired companion. Black Star stared.

"You mean... she did it? Herself? Both of them?!" Crona giggled and looked away, afraid the ninja would be enraged at her. "Woah. You'll have to teach me some of your tricks. I can't be the best if there are things I can't do!" Crona looked up and then smiled, nodding.

"I assume by these remains, you used your improved form of alchemy?" Stein knelt down near the dust and ash, inspecting the residue.

"Yes. I pulled all the valence electrons off the first keshin and used them to destroy the second one. I even used the iron and copper in the first's blood to make a conducting wire, but it burnt up with the current." Crona wiped her hands on her pants, and looked down at her coat. It was a mess. She gave it a glare, but decided it needed a wash anyway.

"It seems your theory about improving that 'lost art' was right. Excellent job. My new material did an excellent job of shielding me from the madness wavelength as well. All thanks to Marie of course." The hammer transformed and hugged Crona protectively.

"You're alright? Completely?" Crona laughed and nodded, hugging the woman back.

"I'm fine Mom. Barely a scratch on me!" Marie sighed in relief and turned to Stein. "I am not going to sit in your pocket while you sprint around like that again! I didn't know I could get motion sick before, but I do now!" Stein just laughed and hugged her. The he reached into his pocket and pulled out his glasses, slipping them on quickly.

"Alright. We're done here. Let's go." He scooped up the third keshin soul and handed it to Spirit, who ate it without question.

* * *

Crona was stretched out on her bed with Maka on top of her. The two had been closed up together for two hours already, and were long past the point of "hanging out" together. The scattered articles of clothing around the room was proof enough of that. Neither were completely naked, but would have been beyond embarrassed if someone were to open the door without warning.

After two hours of kissing and wrestling around on the bed, they had collapsed into a calm cuddle beneath a light sheet. Stitches sat on the pillow above their heads, having gotten more than enough attention for one night. Maka ran her fingers through Crona's short pink hair, twirling it and combing it idly.

"Do you think you'll still have time for me now that you're a three star meister and taking on a research project for Lord Death?" Maka looked into the eyes of the girl she was pressed against.

"Of course, Maka! Actually, most of my schedual will stay the same. I'll be doing my research during my normal hours, and my advanced classes are at the same times as your classes. We'll even still be able to have lunch together!" Crona ran her hands up and down the blonde's back, causing her to stretch luxuriously and moan in comfort.

"I'm glad. I'm sort of jealous that you got to jump ahead." Maka laughed and buried her nose in her girlfriend's neck.

"Don't be. I'm so nervous... I tried to talk Lord Death out of sending me ahead, but he insisted that it would help my research." Crona leaned her head back and giggled when Stitches seemed to be looking straight down at them. "Stitches is watching. You're so beautiful that even a stuffed animal can't look away."

"Nope, he must be looking at you." Maka grinned and sat up slightly, bracing her arms on either side of Crona's head, then leaning down to kiss her passionately. Crona squirmed under her and arched her back, pressing their bodies together. Maka let herself fall gently back onto the mattress beside her and snuggled close. "I'm tired... School's canceled tomorrow. Can we sleep in?"

"Yeah... That sounds nice..." Crona yawned.

* * *

"Germany? For a month?" Crona stood in a daze, staring at the ancient shinigami.

"Yes. We need to understand how three fully formed Keshins were able to suddenly appear with no prior warning, and we need to know if it is connected to past incidents there, including the book which led you to your discoveries. There is no one better for us to send than you." Lord Death refused to look at her. He made it sound like an opportunity, but he knew how much he was asking her to leave behind. Her first real family. A relationship. Friends. Home.

"Is there any way someone stationed closer could gather data and send it back for me to analyze?" Crona was desperate for some escape. She didn't know how to deal with this. Being separated from those she cared about? Now, after she had finally found a place she belonged, they wanted to send her away?

"We've sent teams to look, but none have found anything. In addition, if they did find something, they could easily make a catastrophic mistake if they did not know what they were doing. You've already proven that this new power is incredibly effective, and if used improperly, dangerous." Lord Death sounded as sad to send her away as she felt.

"This... This is the only way? To discover what is going on there? To insure the safety of my home, my family, and my friends?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll go to Germany." Crona stood up tall and clenched her eyes shut, holding back her tears as she steadied herself. She wasn't useless anymore. She wasn't a piece of trash to be used up and thrown away. There were people who cared about her. Maybe Lord Death would even allow her to speak to her family and Maka through his mirror...

"I am sorry... If there were another way..."

"No. You're right. I'm the only expert you have on this subject. I'll figure it out as fast as I can so I can be back here. I'll be calling you for a lift in a week!" She made up her mind then that she would devote herself entirely to her goal. She _would_ find out what was going on, and she _would_ manage it in a quarter the allotted time.

"I have no doubt that you will. I'll be waiting for that call, and i'll be waiting to throw you a welcome home party on your return!" Lord Death looked her in the eyes, and she felt his smile through his mask.

* * *

"I'm going to miss you, Crona... So much..." Maka was clinging to her and crying softly. Despite the fact that the assignment was only for a month, and she had made it her goal to finish in a week, there was always the very real chance of something going wrong. Like more Keshins appearing without warning, and her having to face them alone.

"Please be safe... I wish you would let us come with you..." Marie was sitting next to Stein, her face already wet from her tears.

"No... they need you all here. You three most especially. You're the first response in case of another emergency. What if more Keshins were to appear somewhere and all of us where away at the time? We might not even know until it was far too late. I'll be back soon." Crona had her bags packed already. The cab was waiting to take her to the plane that would fly her away from those she loved.

"Crona. Don't lose focus of what is important. Keep your mind clear. Keep your sights set on the task at hand. Distractions will only slow you down, and endanger you. Practice every day. Keep your mind and body sharp." Stein stood and wrapped his strong arms around his adopted daughter. Crona felt closer to crying then than she had the entire time. The strongest man she knew was holding her like he would never let go. But he finally did.

"I will remember. Everything. Give me a week. I'll be back before your next test!" Stein laughed at the remark.

"You better be. Recon mission in Germany under orders from Lord Death is not an excuse for missing a test." Crona laughed in return and looked at her friends one last time. Kid hadn't come. He was probably still arguing with his father about the assignment. Crona wished he had come to say good bye, but she was determined to see him again soon.

"Goodbye... I love you... All of you..." She turned and walked toward the cab with her head held high.

* * *

"Is this everything?" The man asked, setting down the last of her bags. Crona nodded at him with a smile.

"Yes, thank you!" The man nodded in return and left quietly. The room she would be using was small, but had light, and a table. That was all she needed to finish this assignment.

She began by taking out the incident reports. She examined the map, and plotted everything she knew. There was no discernable pattern. The timings were random. The locations were meaningless. Even the magnitudes were of a scattered variety.

She sighed in frustration and sat down to her desk with a pen and began working. Without warning, the building shook. She sprinted to the window to see a glowing ripple beging to grow in the air down on the street. The people out walking began to run in all directions. And there, in the center of the ripple, in the middle of the black pavement, Crona saw a path of brightly lit grass.

By the time she made it to the street, the event was over. She searched carefully, but could find no evidence that anything out of the ordinary had happened. She sighed again and then stopped. The air smelled different. She could definitely smell grass. It was faint, but it was there. Like a wild field.

"So, already hard at work I see." Crona spun around and caught her breath as she stood nose to nose with Kid Death. He smiled at her charmingly and stepped back a few inches. She grinned and hugged him. "You didn't think i'd let you leave without saying goodbye did you?"

"You know you shouldn't be here. Even taking your board, it is a long flight. But i'm glad I got to see you. Thank you." She held him close for a few more moments, then stepped back. "There is definitely something strange going on. It might not be safe, so you should head back quickly. Don't worry, i'll be back in no time." She smiled reassuringly at him.

"I'll hold you to that." He waved once and stepped onto his board, hovering before her for a moment. Then the second trimmer came, stronger than before. Kid's eyes widened in fear and he reached out, but in an instant, the ground had fallen out from under Crona's feet and she found herself laying on her back in a field of grass. She stared up at the shrinking ripple in the sky, and her last glimpse of Kid's terrified face.

She looked around. As far as she could see, there was nothing but grass in any direction. No, wait. She saw a flash of red. She sat up and looked around. There was a young man, about her age, standing only a few yards away. He was covered in cuts and burns, but had a look of triumph on his face. He turned to look at her.

"So, where did you come from?" She recognized the language as a slight variation on german. She had learned to read and write the language, but speaking it was still a little rocky sometimes.

"I... fell." The boy nodded and pointed up.

"Yeah, I saw. But where from?" The boy was surprisingly calm for someone who had just watched a girl fall from the sky.

"Germany. Where am I?" Crona stood up slowly, checking for injuries as she did.

"You're in Amestris. I've never heard of Germany, but you might want to figure out a better method of travel. That looked painful. And you're lucky I was here. You'd have had a rough time finding anyone normally." He looked around the field.

"Amestris... That was in the book... Do you know about alchemy?"

"Know about it? I was a master of it! I... actually just lost the ability not long ago. But a friend fixed me up with an alternative. What book?" The boy immediately had a look of curiosity and suspicion on his face. Crona pulled the book from her coat pocket and handed it to him.

"This book. It was found in Germany twenty years ago." The boy gave her a strange look. She noticed for the first time that his eyes were a shade of gold she had never seen in any human or monster before. They were like a hawk's. They were captivating. She blinked and looked away.

"That is very strange, since this book went missing here last week." Crona snapped her attention back to the boy with the golden eyes.

"That... isn't possible..." Was this true? Then that meant... Had she just traveled through time? Had Germany ever been called Amestris? No... She had looked into that when she was researching the book. Besides, the geography the book described was completely different.

"Yeah, tell me about it. This wasn't even finished. I was still writing it when I lost it. These damn homunculi keep popping up everywhere. I thought it had gotten destroyed with the last one."

"Homunculi?"

"Yeah... You don't want to meet one of them. They're pretty messed up. They're monsters created by sacrificing innocent lives. They're nearly immortal. And they're powerful. More powerful than you can imagine."

"Have... have three of them ever dissappeared? Like your book did?"

"How could you possibly know that?" His golden eyes locked onto her again, and he stepped toward her. He wasn't a very tall man, nor bulky, but she could feel in her soul that he was dangerous and she did not want to fight him.

"Because a week ago, three Keshins appeared in Germany with no warning."

"A... Keshin?"

"A monster that is created when an evil human consumes the souls of too many innocent humans."

"That is... Definitely interesting. It's getting dark. We should get going. I have a place we can stay. What's your name?"

"Crona... Crona Stein. You?"

"Edward Elric."

* * *

_**So, i slight note. The next chapter will be after a significant time skip. The time Crona spends in Amestris will be covered in a separate story. If anyone is interested in reading it, please leave me some reviews and i'll do my best to finish it and post it as a crossover. Otherwise, you should be able to continue on to the next chapter of this story with no problem and fill in any important gaps easily.**_


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey guys... I'm back." Crona stood in the doorway to the classroom as every set of eyes fixed on her. No one moved. No one spoke. Stein stood up slowly, and walked toward her. He took his glasses off and then reached up and twisted the bolt in his head slowly.

_Click... click... click... click... click... click..._

He stepped closer and slowly reached out, putting his hands on her shoulders. He squeezed lightly, then pulled her into a crushing hug. She relaxed into his arms and begin shaking.

"How... how long have I been gone?" She asked before she broke down completely. Stein pulled back and held her at arms length, smiling wider than she had ever seen.

"Five days. Kid reported your disappearance as soon as it happened. We've been searching ever since. How long did you think you were gone?"

"I... I was in another world for... a whole year." There were several gasps. She knew some people didn't believe her. She knew many were dying to ask her a million questions. But she didn't care about that. She cared about the two people walking toward her down the stairs between rows of seats.

"Crona... Oh Crona I missed you..." Maka leaped on her, making her stumble, but gladly hug her in return. She smiled over the blonde's shoulder at the young shinigami who looked as if he had not slept since she left.

"I missed you too Maka... more than you could imagine... And you too Kid... Can you take me to your father for my report?" Crona gave Maka a small squeeze and then straightened, smoothing her coat out. Kid nodded and smiled at her. Stein patted her shoulder.

"Go. I'll go get Marie and meet you on your way out. Class dismissed!" Stein's grin stayed fixed in place as the room full of students cheered and rushed down to the floor. Crona promised she would explain the next day, after she had given her report to Lord Death.

She walked down the hall, side by side with Kid. He looked at her strangely.

"You grew your hair out."

"Yeah... I never seemed to have time to cut it. Do... you think you could give me a hair cut? Patty's is always very pretty." Crona asked, running her hand through the pony tail she now wore. She was barely recognizable as the woman who had disappeared less than a week ago.

"Of course. I'll make it perfect and symmetrical. You must be exhausted... A year in another world... It's hard to imagine. Was it very different?" Kid walked in time with her, keeping his eyes fixed on her. He knew the halls of the school inside and out. He did not need to watch his step.

"No... Actually it was very similar. But it was in a different era. They were many years behind us. I don't think crossing between their world and ours would have been possible if they weren't so similar. And no, i'm actually full of energy. I was only awake for a couple of hours before I returned to this world." Crona laughed and ran her fingers along the wall of the hallway.

"Really? It sounds like you became very familiar with that world."

"I was there for a year. And I was on research mission, in addition to trying to find a way home. I learned a great deal. Stay an listen to my report. We can get the others and i'll explain anything else to you all tonight." Crona smiled at the young man as they came to the entrance of the Death Room.

They entered, and Lord Death greeted them warmly, welcoming Crona back enthusiastically.

"Lord Death, I have my report on the incidents in Germany."

"Go ahead."

"With the help of a man on the other side, I discovered that the disturbances were the result of soul energy being released in extremely large quantities in their world. All the reported incidents have been succesfully linked to parallel events in their world, and there should be no more such disturbances."

"A catastrophic event involving the sacrifice of thousands of innocent souls caused a weak point somewhere in the middle east. A later event on an even larger scale, sacrificing millions, punched a hole through into germany. All events on their side fell through one of these two points, but the range was wider going the other way. The fabric on their side of the divide in perferated from numerous soul energy releases."

"The cause of these bursts was the destruction of creatures called homunculi. They are almost exactly the same as our Keshins, and the three we destroyed in Germany were actually homunculi that slipped through after a fourth was killed on the other side."

"However, at this point, all incidents on their side have been accounted for here, and I was able to make a way for them to destroy their homunculi without causing more events on our side. Germany should no longer be a point of concern."

Crona finished her report and stood, waiting for any questions.

"How were you able to return so soon after you left, if you were really there for a year?" Kid asked from her side.

"We discovered that the temporal axis of transmission was linked to the location. The closer the crossover point was to the original breach, the smaller the temporal offset. I... Was really just guessing on the return trip. We had a rough idea of the location, but we had a margin of error calculated at one month, and I knew there could be problems if I got back here before I left." Crona blushed a bit, embarrassed to admit to guessing with something as serious as traveling through time and space.

Lord Death chuckled.

"Your gamble paid off. And you did exactly as you said! You're back in under a week. Although the changes in you speak of the true time lost. Were you able to learn more about alchemy?" Now Crona's smile was confident and proud.

"Yes, I studied it in great detail from a true master. I even received certification for my skills in the time I was there. It allowed me access to materials that were instrumental in finding my way home." Crona pulled a silver pocket watch and a folded piece of paper from her pocket. She opened the paper and handed it to Lord Death.

"_This official document certifies that the nation of Amestris, prefecture of_ _the __Generalissimo __appoints the name Lightning Alchemist to Crona Stein in the name of Fuhrer King Mustang._

_The State Alchemist shall follow all orders and policies of the military._

_A research assesment examination shall be held once every year. In the case that the State Alchemist does not show signs of progress as a result of the examination, she shall be discharged from the services of State Alchemist._

_The State Alchemist is entitled to the use of ample research funds, unrestricted access to classified documentation, access to various governmental facilities, and a military rank equal to that of "Major"."_

"You are a major in the military?!" Kid stared at her in disbelief. She smiled at him sheepishly and nodded.

"It's really only a title. I was never involved in the military. Their new king was still implementing a lot of changes to the way things were run, so the official document is out dated."

"I assume "Lightning Alchemist" is a reference to the trick you pioneered against the Keshins?" Lord Death asked, handing the paper back to the girl, who folded it neatly and tucked it and the watch back into her coat.

"Yes. They base your name off of your unique skills. The man I learned from was called Fullmetal because he had a mechanical arm. Their current king is the Flame Alchemist. There were a lot of rumors that he is one of the most powerful alchemists to have ever lived there."

"Do you have more to report?"

"No sir."

"Then you should go see your friends and family. If they miss you after five days, then you must miss them many times more after a year. I am sorry for what you went through due to my assignment." Crona just shook her head at the death god's apology.

"I did my job, and i'm back. No harm done." In all honesty, despite the pain and fear of losing her friends and family for a year, not knowing if she would ever get them back, she wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

* * *

"So, you promised, now tell us what happened." Kid sat down on the sofa with his weapons on either side. Crona noticed Liz leaned against him slightly. She smiled. She was happy for them. Soul and Maka sat across from each other, and her parents stood to the side. They had come with Kid so she would only have to tell her story once.

"Alright. The world I was sent to has a lot of things in common with ours. Instead of soul energy, they use alchemy, and instead of Keshins, they have Homunculi. However, due to some catastrophic and destructive event, ripping the souls of millions of innocent people from their bodies at once, their world became fused with ours. After that, whenever they killed a homunculus, there would be a breach and things could slip through." Crona explained, remembering how amazed she had been to discover there was really another world existing with hers.

"From there, I became friends with a skillful alchemist and began learning their art as well as researching a way home. In the end, it was my friend that came up with the method to send me back. We determined that the temporal offset between our worlds was based on the distance between the point of transfer in their world, and the initial point of contact. Then we just did some math to get in the right area."

"We hadn't figured out that it was the destruction of the homunculi that was causing the problems until I left, but once we did, it was easy to find a way to destroy them without things falling through. We ended up simulating the destruction of a homunculi at a certain location and then I was back, a few blocks away from where I left." Her friends stared at her.

"You were there for a year, and all you did was train, research, and find a way home?" Crona jumped and turned to see the ninja leaned against the window frame, his legs dangling half in and half out of the room. Tsubaki sat on his lap comfortably.

"Well... yeah. I wanted to get home, and the friend I had there was an expert alchemist. He was a lot of help, and he was very interested in the research as well." Crona shifted from foot to foot, not expecting them to find her story disappointing or boring. She thought that learning to perfect her skills with alchemy and researching the mechanics of their combined world in order to get home was very exciting.

"Did you bring back notes on your research? I'd be very interested to see them." Stein grinned at her proudly from the door. Obviously, he found nothing wrong with doing a years worth of training and researching in five days.

"Yes, I have them in my bag!" Crona felt a little better knowing that at least someone was interested in what she had gone through.

"Will you teach me alchemy?" Maka asked, barely loud enough to be heard.

"If you want me to, of course." Crona stared at her, wondering why she was asking that. She had a weapon partner. Was it just curiosity?

* * *

"What does this symbol mean?" Maka traced the marking on the back of Crona's white lab coat. Crona rolled over on the bed and looked at her. It was a cross with wings and a crown above it, and a snake wrapped around it.

"It's called a flamel. It is a mark of alchemy. The man who taught me in the other world wore it on his coat in honor of the woman who taught him, so I decided to do the same." Crona looked lost in thought for a moment.

"Did... did you like him?" Maka looked at her sadly.

"What? Maka... He was engaged. And he was from a totally different world. He was my friend and my teacher, nothing more." Crona looked at the coat and remembered the events of her stay with the alchemist. She respected him, admired him, and enjoyed his company, but he was never her Maka.

"Alright. I'm glad. Could you tell me about him? Your dad will be interested in your research, so i'd like to hear about the rest of your journey." Maka stood up and moved to the bed, sitting down next to Crona and hugging her.

"Well... He was really something else. You could tell, just being near him, that he wasn't from out world. His eyes for one. They were golden. Looking into them was... hypnotic. Like a mouse being stared at by a hawk. He is strong, brilliant, and powerful. But he is a good man. He is kind, and cares so much about those close to him. He's been through hell. Even worse than me. But he pulled through for his little brother."

Maka closed her eyes and tried to imagine the man. Golden eyes? She had never heard of such a thing. But his personality. Dangerous, but kind... It reminded her a bit of Soul. A demon weapon. A death scythe, with white hair, red eyes, and fangs. To most, he looked like a monster in human form. To her, he was a trusted and dear friend.

"He only had one real arm. Part of the hell he went through. His mother died when they were both very young, and they tried to use alchemy to bring her back. They were just desperat children who wanted to see their mother smile again, but he lost his leg and his brother lost his entire body. He then used alchemy to sacrifice his own arm to bind his brother's soul to a suit of armor."

Maka was stunned. He lost a leg and his brother trying to get back his mother, then his arm trying to save his brother? And that was only part of the hell he went through? She knew one thing. The man was strong. Stronger than she would believe any man could be. To have gone through that and kept going... That took something special.

"His friend and her grandmother gave him a mechanical arm and leg. He went through his three year recovery period in one year, and then became the youngest person in history to become a state alchemist. They spent years looking for a way to get their bodies back."

"He sounds like a really incredible person. I can see why you would respect him enough to carry his mark even with a snake on it." Maka leaned back on the bed, pulling Crona with her. The pink haired girl smiled.

"Yeah. Then he went and saved the entire country. He destroyed an evil homunculus that was planing to steal the souls of every human in the country to make himself a god. He had help, but in the end, it really came down to him. He was the one strong enough and brave enough to fight right until the end to save those he cared about. His own father managed to save the countries souls before it was too late."

"His brother sacrificed himself to reverse the alchemy that bound him to the armor, giving him back his arm at a critical moment, allowing him to defeat the monster. But afterward, he was forced to sacrifice his arm again. It had been paid to keep his brother's soul bound to the real world for years, and was only returned temporarily, or he would have lost his brother entirely."

"That is aweful... He had to lose his arm again..." Maka snuggled closer to the girl.

"Yes. Then he did something unheard of. He sacrificed his ability to preform alchemy as payment for trying to bring his mother back, and got both his leg, and his brother back entirely. Now he has a mechanical arm, but he considers it a reminder of his mistakes. He did some research and combined some of the knowledge of his friends and got a tattoo on his left arm that allows him to preform alchemy in a different way."

"You're going to miss him..."

"Yeah... I will. But I am so happy to be home. And I have my memories and the skills he taught me." Crona rolled over to face Maka again, kissing her passionately and pulling her close. Maka melted in her arms and kissed back, running her fingers through the long pink hair of her girlfriend.

"I'm glad he was able to help bring you home to me." Maka whispered into Crona's ear and she began kissing her neck.

"So am I."

* * *

"This is hard..." Maka had her hands pressed to the ground with a look of concentration on her face. Soul sat to the side, grinning like an idiot at her. Crona was crouched beside her, giving instructions and demonstrations.

"I know. It was a really weird idea to get used to, but it works much better than the way I first imagined for frequent use. This way you only use your wavelength as a catalyst, then rely on the energy of the earth for the actual work." Crona placed her hands on the ground and drew a angel shaped statue small enough to sit in her palm from the ground.

"Grrr! How do you do it so easily!?" Maka glared at the angel.

"Because i've had a years worth of practice!" Crona giggled at the annoyance on the girl's face.

"Alright. Lets try this again." Maka took a deep breath and focused on the ground once again. She forced her wavelength out through her hands and into the ground, resonating between them and using the feedback to draw up and direct the power from the earth. The stone beneath her hands rose slightly, and formed... nothing identafiable.

"Better! You made it move! Way to go Maka!" Soul cheered teasingly from the side, falling over laughing. Maka scowled, but Crona put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay. That _was_ better. Lets call it a day. I'm hungry!" Crona giggled as Maka stood and brushed off her hands and knees, glaring down at the amorphous pile.

"About time! I'm starving!" Soul leaped to his feet.

"Who says you're coming!? You laughed at me. You feed yourself tonight." Maka stuck her tongue out at the weapon and took Crona's hand. Soul's face fell and for a moment he looked truly beaten. Then Maka waved back at him. "Come on."

"That's seriously not cool Maka!" Crona just looked at the two and smiled. Their was a lot of strain between the partners right now, and she was going to find out what was causing it.

* * *

"Are you happy now, Maka?! You can work on your own now! Screw you! I'm leaving!" Soul snarled at her, looking every bit as angry as the demon he resembled. Maka's glare turned to hurt and as he slammed the door to the apartment behind him, she slid to her knees, sobbing.

She leaned against the sofa, crying. She had finally managed to accomplish alchemy. Nothing amazing like Crona's lightning storms, but she had conjured a steel blade and poll from the ground. It would serve well enough in a battle. She had been afraid Lord Death would call Soul into his direct service now that he was a Death Scythe, and only the second actual scythe in the academy. She wanted to be able to defend herself without him, if it ever came to that.

She had been distant with him lately. Maybe even cold. She couldn't help it. She was so afraid he was going to leave her. She wasn't his girlfriend anymore. She had made him into a death scythe, and that was really all the obligation they had to each other. She remembered her parents splitting up when her mother had found her father cheating on her. She remembered how horrible she had felt when he walked out the door as if he didn't need or miss them at all. Of course she had learned he still cared about them, her especially, but that memory still hurt.

She didn't want to be left alone. Soul had always been her dearest friend, but she had been growing so close with Crona recently, she had felt Soul slipping from her. Now he was gone. She had come in happy, proud that she had finally succeeded in using alchemy. She had told Soul, and he had just glared at the floor. She had gotten angry at him. She had yelled some things at him, and he'd snapped.

Maka stared at the door he had vanished through. She had prepared to have him taken from her, but never imagined him walking out on her.

* * *

"Soul? Where's Maka? She out with Crona?" Kid opened the door and looked at his friend. Soul looked like he had lost it all.

"Can... I stay here for a while? Black Star is on a mission and I forgot my key." Soul sounded exhausted. He wouldn't look up at Kid. The young shinigami stood aside and let the weapon in. Soul mumbled his thanks.

"What happened?" Kid put a hand on Soul's shoulder. He stopped and looked up at him. It was clear he had been crying. There were tiny red marks that showed he had bit his lip to the point of bleeding. He didn't have even a flicker of hope or happiness in his eyes.

"Maka doesn't need me any more. She learned alchemy so she could fight alone. She turned me into a death scythe, so she's going to fight alone until she finds a new weapon to train." Kid was shocked. He couldn't believe it.

"She kicked you out?"

"No... I left on my own. I couldn't take it any more. She was practically rubbing it in my face. I really tried to be happy for her, but I couldn't. I won't be staying long. Black Star will be back in an hour or so. I just didn't want to go back to the apartment for my key..." Kid directed the defeated weapon to a soft chair, then went to a different room to place a call.

* * *

"Hello? Kid? What's up?" Crona answered her phone, writing steadily with her other hand as she listened.

"Soul's here, and he's not doing well. He's... Well, could you go over to Maka's and see how she is doing? Ask her what happened? I'm worried. Either they're both really in a bad place right now, or they've had the worst misunderstanding i've heard of. Either way, I think she'll need someone to talk to right now."

"Alright, i'm on my way there now. I'll let you know. Thank you, Kid. I appreciate the call."

"No problem."

Crona hung up and

* * *

slipped her coat on.

"C-Crona? What are you doing here?" Maka sniffed and wiped her eyes, looking at the girl standing in the door way.

"Maka, tell me what happened." Crona stepped in and wrapped her arms around the meister, letting her go weak in her embrace.

"Soul left... He just walked out on me!" Maka began sobbing again, burying her face in her girlfriend's neck.

"Why would he do that?"

"I... I don't know... He... I think he just got sick of me... He's a death scythe now... And he's an actual scythe... Lord Death would have come to claim him soon enough... Maybe he didn't want to wait."

"Maka, he's your best friend! He's been with you for years! He wouldn't just get sick of you!" Crona rubbed her back.

"He's pointed other young weapons out to me... Telling me they would make good partners. They showed a lot of promise to become death weapons... I think he's been thinking about leaving for a while now... I asked to learn alchemy so I wouldn't have to take a new partner when he finally did..." Maka shivered from her stress, not enough strength left to even cry.

"Come on. You need to sit down." Crona moved them to the sofa and gently settled the distressed girl into the seat. "I'll be right back." Crona stood up and stepped out the door, pulling out her phone and dialing Kid's number.

"Crona? How is she?"

"Just as heartbroken as Soul must be. I think they may seriously need some outside help with this. Can you and Soul meet at my house? I'll bring Maka. Soul might not go willingly..."

"Leave it to me. I am a shinigami after all." Kid hung up and Crona stepped back in.

"Maka, come on. We're going to my house. I'm not leaving you here alone like this." Crona helped the girl to her feet.

"I... I don't think I can walk that far..."

"I'll call a cab."

* * *

"Uhhhh..." Soul blinked a few times and shook his head. He raised a hand to a small bump. "Where am I?"

"Stein's lab." Kid gritted his teeth. Alright, he just told someone who just woke up from an uninteded nap that they were in the lab of the dissection-happy mad scientist. Soul sat upright and started yellign for help. Kid clamped a hand over the weapon's mouth. Soul's dinner plate eyes slowly calmed and focused. "I put that badly. We're at Crona's house."

"What? Why the hell are we here?!" Soul glared up at his friend and started to stand up. Kid pushed him back onto the table.

"Stop it or i'll knock you out again." Soul stopped struggling and settled for glaring Kid to death.

"He's up?" Crona poked her head in.

"Yeah, how about her?"

"Mhm. I'll bring her down. Less things to break in here." Crona disappeared out the door and Kid turned back to Soul.

A few moments later, Crona and a very sad and weak looking Maka walked into the lab. Crona and Kid clamped two mouths shut before the screaming started.

"You two are idiots, do you know that?" Kid glared between the two. Their attention focused on him for a moment, allowing their captors to release their mouths. "Now please shut up and listen."

"Soul, Maka thought you wanted to abandon her and work directly for Lord Death, since you achieved the level of Death Scythe now. Maka, Soul thought you were going to get rid of him and train a new weapon since you had already finished with him and were learning to fight on your own so you could handle yourself until you found a suitable replacement." Crona explained to them quickly, before their brains started producing more assumptions.

"You were both assuming the other didn't want you and you pushed each other away. Now, we're going to leave, and you two are going to _talk to each other!_" Kid snapped at them, and he walked out, followed quickly by Crona.

* * *

"You're in a better mood." Crona giggled as Maka ran her nose over her throat.

"Yes... Thank you. Kid was right. We were both being stupid. We're lucky to have friends like you. And we're really lucky Black Star wasn't home, or this mess would have gotten a lot worse." Maka ran a trail of soft kisses down Crona's neck.

"Yeah, but it is all straightened out, so it's alright." Crona massaged the girl's back idly as she stared at the ceiling, then slowly closed her eyes. "If you ever start feeling like there is something like that going on between us, will you promise to tell me before it gets to that point?"

"Mhm." Maka giggled and closed her ayas as well, resting her head on the pink haired girl's shoulder.

* * *

**_Alright, so here's another chapter! I'm working on the FMA crossover chapter(s) in the middle, and I will post a link to them in chapter four when I post them, as well as leave a note in the most recent chapter alerting the readers._**


	6. Chapter 6

"Congratulations. You are officially the first meister to make the rank of three stars with neither a weapon partner nor death weapon meister status. We are all very proud of you. You have earned this." Lord Death handed the smiling girl the certificate and identification that would allow her access to a higher level of research materials.

"Thank you, Lord Death. I am honored." She bowed politely to the Shinigami. She'd been called out of class after her first period and brought to the death room with no warning. She'd been afraid she was going to be punished, but was happily surprised.

"Well, sorry to call you out of class, but I thought you'd like to have this as soon as possible! Now, you should probably head back. Your friends will be wondering why you're late to your own father's class." Lord Death waved her off cheerfully and turned to face his mirror.

She bowed respectfully and then made her way back to the classroom. Stein's grin as she entered went unnoticed by most of the class, but she caught it, and it made her feel warm inside, being able to make him proud like that. She took her seat next to Maka without a word and took out her notebook, ready to continue.

"Alright class, I'm going to be testing your physical abilities today. Weapons and meisters will both participate. Absolutely no wavelength usage, or resonance. You are to use your bodies only to preform the tasks I set to you." His grin of pride immediately shifted to one of demented glee. He pulled a plastic gun from his deep coat pocket and shot the hat off Liz's head without looking.

"The first task will be testing your combined reflexes and predictive abilities. Dodge the plastic beads. Begin." Students leaped from their seats and began diving for cover quickly. Stein cackled madly as he spun in his chair, firing at anyone he saw. Crona dodged several shots and found herself giggling behind a desk with Maka.

"He's mad! At least he's not using a real gun." Maka stared in confusion at the pink haired girl's grin. Crona kissed her quickly on the nose, taking a moment to enjoy the act of intimacy in the heated and public situation, then jumped over the desk and picked up a wooden yard stick from the teacher's desk, wielding it like a sword and deflecting three shots perfectly.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Black Star pointed at the wooden device.

"How so? It is not a demon weapon, a manifestation of her wavelength, or involved in soul resonance." Stein fired six shots at the ninja, four missing, one glancing off a well placed smack, but the last impacting firmly on the arrogant meister's nose.

"Shut up and move you idiot!" Soul barked at his friend as he rolled behind Ox's legs, letting the bespectacled meister take two shots for him.

The rest of the period was divided up between an assortment of tasks, each designed to stretch and observe different physical skills. Black Star excelled at almost all of them. One, however, he failed horribly at, much to his irritation and Maka's pleasure. Maka dangled the offending rubber band off her pinky for the fifth time.

"Grrraahh! Why is this important?! I don't need to get a rubber band off my hand to use Tsubaki!" Black Star snarled at the band that stretched across the back of his hand from his pinky to his thumb. The task was simple. Remove the rubber band with no other surface than the hand in question. Several people were able to manage it, but only Maka could do it with both hands, and fastest at that.

"Oh? Is the great Black Star admitting defeat?" Maka teased, enjoying besting the boy at something physical for once.

"Whatever. Just because Tsubaki can get more than finger action glrmphlg..." Maka had turned pink at the ninja's insinuation, and Crona had casually poked the toe of her shoe into his gaping mouth. He stared up at her in shock, at a complete loss for how to react.

"If you finish that sentence, I will dissect you." Black Star's eyes widened slightly and he nodded. She withdrew her foot. He spit a few times, ridding his mouth of shoe particles. He stood up and removed the rubber band and flicked it at Soul, then darted out of the room, the white haired weapon hot on his heels.

"Wow, Crona. That was the fastest I've ever seen any one shut Black Star up before!" Maka giggled, her embarrassment forgotten. Crona smiled sheepishly at her, looking about as surprised as Black Star had been at her words.

"He's just a sore loser. Come on, it's time for lunch." Crona held out a hand for her girlfriend, and the two walked toward the cafeteria behind Tsubaki, Kid, and his weapons.

* * *

"NO!" Black Star and Tsubaki stumbled back a step as Crona shouted. She immediately blushed at her own outburst and took a deep breath. "You can not do that. Ever. It's forbidden for a reason."

"Why? What's the difference between changing a piece of metal and changing Tsubaki's dagger form?"

"The difference is that she has a soul, and a piece of metal doesn't. Human transmutation is not something to mess around with. I met an incredibly brilliant alchemist who lost and arm, a leg, and his younger brother for doing just that!" Crona tried to express to the stubborn ninja just how dangerous his suggestion was. Tsubaki, at least, seemed to grasp it.

"Black Star, she's right. We're here to learn from her. She's the expert. Please take her word for this." The tall weapon tugged on her meister's sleeve. He looked at her questioningly then relented.

"Alright, alright. No using alchemy on Tsubaki. What's next Crona?" The pink haired girl sighed in relief.

"I think that is enough for today. I'm going to be late for dinner!" She waved goodbye to her two students and began the walk back to her home. Without warning, Kid was at her side. She smiled at him and continued walking in step with him.

"Good evening Crona. Maka said I could probably find you here." Crona couldn't stop a small tinge of pink sneaking into her cheeks. Even though she was happy as she could be with Maka, and the young shinigami wasn't even an option anymore, he was still one of her first crushes, and that didn't go away very quickly.

"Well, you found me! What's up kid?" She tried to sound casual.

"I was wondering if we could talk this evening about setting up a class for alchemy. My father is interested in introducing it in its most basic form as a subject at Shibusen, and asked me to talk over the particulars with you." Crona smiled as she considered spending the evening chatting idly with the brilliant, kind, and powerful man at her side. And about a subject she was an expert on.

"Of course! Would you like to join us for dinner? Mom always makes too much." Kid nodded hesitantly.

"I would be honored, if you are sure it is alright." Kid smiled at her. Crona nodded happily.

"Maka comes over a lot, so she makes extra every day. If we have left overs, I take them for lunch." Crona explained, trying to set his mind at ease.

"I'll call Liz and tell her I'll be home late." He pulled out his phone and as he spoke into the device, Crona looked him over. He wore black and white, as usual. The stark contrast, and the perfect symmetry acted as a mobile form of therapy for when the asymmetrical world around him got to him.

* * *

"Thank you for the food, Mrs. Stein. It was amazing." Kid bowed politely to the brightly smiling woman, not even realizing how charming he sounded. To him, it was only respectful. No wonder he had girls falling for him left and right. Good thing Liz was there to beat them senseless if any of them were to touch him.

They sat in the living room, a table and a pile of notes between them. They had been going over the basics of alchemy for nearly two hours. They had started at what Crona had considered _basic_ alchemy, and then butchered it down into what would pass for manageable chunks for a beginning teacher. Kid told her the course would undergo yearly changes until it reached a stable point.

Stein looked over their course plan and gave his approval. Marie looked a bit lost, but agreed that it could be done, if she were given the basics first. The two were happy with the results. Kid had something concrete to take before his father the next day.

It was getting well into the evening now. Crona yawned and stretched, then a thought struck her, reminding her of a conversation that the two had shared some time ago, when they were both single. She grinned.

"Follow me, Kid." The young shinigami raised an eyebrow, but followed her without hesitation. She led the way up the stairs and then opened a window at the end of the hall and worked her way through the opening, offering her hand behind her.

Once they were both out onto the roof, Crona walked carefully over to a spot where two peaks met and sat in the crease, patting the surface beside her. Kid sat and then looked ahead of them. The sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon in a dazzling display of red and orange.

"Crona... Wow... You were right. The view from up here is out of this world. Thank you for sharing it with me." Kid leaned back slightly, smiling contentedly at the sunset.

"You're very welcome. I've thought about having a party and bringing our friends up here, but I don't think many of them besides you and Maka would have the patience." She sighed and slipped her shoes off, wiggling her toes in the cooling air.

"You're probably right about that. Certainly not Black Star or Patty. Soul might. Liz probably would." Kid looked lost in thought as he stared at the horizon. Crona looked over at him. He'd changed a bit since they had met. His OCD fits were less pronounced now. Asymmetry still bothered him severely, but he would no longer have complete breakdowns. And he was growing taller. He was fit, but not bulky like Black Star. He was... elegant.

"When did you and Liz..."

"The day after you left. I was not handling it well, and she knocked some sense into me. We talked, and I realized I was being stupid, always ignoring any romantic possibilities with my weapons. Patty was a little jealous at first, but she got over it quickly. Nothing ever gets her down for long." Kid gave her a slightly regretful smile and then stretched before standing and offering her a hand up.

* * *

"Crona, what's wrong?" Maka puts a hand on her shoulder. The pink haired girl just shakes her head and pulls her knees tighter against her chest, tears pouring down her cheeks. Her stuffed wolf sits behind her, watching over her.

"Come on Crona... Talk to me..." Maka felt close to tears herself.

"I... Maka... If I had learned alchemy sooner... I could have saved Ragnarok... I could have drawn him out faster... I could have healed him... If I had only learned sooner, he'd be alive!" Crona sobbed, shaking and curling even farther in on herself. Maka crawled onto the bed next to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Crona, there is no way you could have learned alchemy before! This is not your fault! The techniques you use didn't even exist then!" Maka ran her fingers through the sobbing girl's hair, trying to comfort her.

"He was my partner... He saved my life and I wasn't able to save him... I'm not good enough to have a partner..." Crona tangled her fingers in her hair and tugged at it, crying silently now, her energy gone.

"Crona, you know that's not true. You're an amazing meister. I'm so proud of you... Professor Stein is proud of you! He's the most powerful meister to ever graduate from the academy, and you might take that title from him next year!" Maka gently removed Crona's fingers from her pink hair and held her hands in hers, kissing her shoulder softly.

"Maka... I had a nightmare... The first one I've had since I moved here... My mother... Medusa... She was there... She killed you... And Ragnarok... And Kid... And Mom and Dad... She took away everything... I didn't know how to deal with it..." Crona sniffed, still shaking.

"It's alright. It was only a dream. Medusa is gone." Maka wiped away a few of the girl's tears and then just held her for a while.

"Thank you Maka... I'm lucky to have you." Crona smiled weakly and rolled over, kissing the blonde on the nose, then the cheek, then the lips.

* * *

"So, these are the best your academy has to offer? A young Shinigami and a scrawny scientist? Pathetic. Oh well. I guess it can't be helped. I'll be taking them." The onlookers gasped. What had this man just said?

"I'm afraid that is unacceptable. Spirit." The Death Scythe nodded at Lord Death and immediately transformed into his weapon form, falling perfectly into the Shinigami's outstretched hand. Crona and Kid stared in awe as the powerful death god spun the blade expertly and attacked, only to be launched back by the stranger.

He had appeared from no where, walking up the steps of the school and asking to speak to the ones in charge. After being led to Lord Death, he had pretended to be interested in a possible teaching position, or maybe even taking lessons himself. Only after Lord Death had brought his two best students up to introduce did the man reveal his soul. It was black. Not the red of a keshin. Pure black.

Maka, Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki had come after them as soon as he had revealed himself. The two women could see his dark aura from their class room. Marie was left staring around in confusion as a large portion of her class was now missing.

Now the stranger was facing down the death god, and things were not going well at all. He didn't even seem to be trying. He laughed happily as he blocked each attack with his bare hands, catching Spirit's blade easily and throwing it back effortlessly. As Lord Death struggled to rise to his feet for the fourth time, the stranger turned to the younger Shinigami and pointed a finger at him. A flash came from his finger, and Kid fell like a stone.

Crona was at his side in an instant, checking for a pulse. His heart beat was erratic. His breathing was fast and shallow, and his eyes wouldn't focus. It was impossible. No one could poison a Shinigami! Lord Death snarled in a way that seemed at odds with his friendly mask. He launched at the intruder yet again, but was easily beaten down.

Then the stranger turned on the pair of meisters.

"If you come with me, I will spare the old man, and I will cure the young shinigami. It's a good deal." His confident smirk made Crona clench her fists as she stood.

"No. I can cure him just as well myself, as soon as you are dead!" She clapped her hands together and ran at the man. He raised an eyebrow and raised a hand to block her. She smiled inwardly as her hand touched his arm. She launched the hidden charge in her other hand down the link and felt the man jerk involuntarily as the pulse of electricity hit him. He straightened up unsteadily.

"That was unexpected. But a sneak attack only works once." He moved faster than she thought possible, appearing behind her before she even realized he had moved. His palm impacted with her back, right between her shoulders, and she gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs.

He walked over to her calmly, looking down at her with interest.

"On second thought, you are far more interesting than some pathetic death god. I'll enjoy torturing your powers out of you much more." He reached down and grabbed her by her coat, lifting her into the air, grinning at his catch. Maka and Black Star attacked him in unison, resonating to coordinate their attack, but he side stepped them and swiped his arm around, catching Maka in the neck, sending her to the ground, gasping for air.

"Maka!" Crona struggled limply in the stranger's grasp, trying to reach the injured girl. Soul transformed and knelt beside her, checking her neck carefully. He moved to stand between her and the attacker. Crona could only assume that meant she would be alright.

"That is my daughter you monster!" Spirit slashed wildly with his bladed arm, but was knocked hard in the ribs, nearly sending him out of the death room's door. Those who remained standing could only watch in horror as the man walked past them, the pink haired girl dangling from his grasp.

Then he stopped. A man stood in his way. He was tall, I stitched lab coat dangling from wide shoulders. He was muscular, but thin. He looked around the room carefully, taking int the state of hos friends and colleagues. His eyes came to rest on the girl in the stranger's hand. He reached up and twisted the protruding head of a large bolt.

_Click... click... click... click... click... click..._

"And who are you?" The stranger seemed unconcerned by the new appearance.

"I'm that young woman's father, and I'm afraid I can't let you take her." Stein stared calmly at the man through his glasses. The stranger laughed and took another step toward the man and the exit behind him. In a flash that even Black Star could not follow, Crona slumped to the ground, and only a severed piece of white cloth remained in the intruder's hand. A gleaming scalpel spun expertly around the silver haired scientist's fingers.

"You insist on fighting as well? Can none of you understand? I am invincible to the likes of you. I am a fallen angel. I can not be defeated by death gods. I am their bane. And all of you are lesser in every way!" The man raised his hand to attack, but Stein was no longer there. The intruder had only time to widen his eyes in surprise as the crackling fist of dismemberment wavelength collided with his sternum.

"I've never dissected an angel before. I wonder what you look like on the inside? It will be very interesting to find out." Stein walked forward slowly, stepping over his fallen friends carefully. He raised his hand let his wavelength flow to the tips. "I have been looking for an excuse to try out my daughter's research."

He slammed his hands together and then pressed them to the ground. In an instant, a thousand blades sprouted from the ground around the intruder, bending and stabbing down into him, pinning him to the ground.

"Well, that was more effective than my stitches. Now... Where to cut first?" The man on the ground finally managed to gather his wits, realizing he could not take this new comer so lightly. He disintegrated the blades with a blast of energy and jumped to his feet. Stein turned his screw again.

_Click... click... click... click... click... click..._

"You really ought to stay still. I'd hate to accidentally kill you. It's just not the same dissecting something that is already dead." He walked forward slowly, keeping his eyes on the target. The stranger could not see where he was looking through the reflective glasses. He launched an attack, moving fast to come up behind his opponent. Without turning, Stein's hand jammed into the attacker's stomach and twisted. Blood dripped from his fingers when he pulled them away.

"What the hell are you?" The self proclaimed angel gasped as he clutched his stomach, quickly stopping the bleeding with his powers.

"Me? I'm a scientist." Stein turned to face the man just as the last drops of blood fell and the wound sealed. His eyebrows raised only a millimeter, but the intruder noticed, turning in an instant to see who was behind him.

"Stein? What's happening? Oh no! Crona!" Marie stood in the entry way, stunned. Before she could begin to think about attacking, the intruder had her pinned to the ground, a blade of light at her throat.

"Well, this makes things easier. Either I can kill her, or you can surrender and let me take the girl. It's your choice." His smug confidence was genuine. He never saw it coming.

Stein moved yet again, one instant he was standing three yards away, in a posture that spoke of complete calm and relaxation, then he was holding a severed hand, watching it's previous owner's moment of realization. The man shouted in pain as he grasped the stump of his wrist, staring wide eyed at the appendage as Stein dropped it casually to the ground. The drops of red on his perfectly white coat stood out in an eery way.

"You are the one who seems unable to learn. Do not touch the people I care about." Stein's face, which had remained calm up to that point split into a grin that made the angel shiver and fall back, crawling away in fear. "That woman is the only thing in this world that can keep my madness at bay." Stein let out a cackle as his glasses slid off the tip of his nose, cracking on the ground. His eyes were wide and staring intently at the retreating man.

"Stay back... I can still kill them all!" The man raised an arm and fired a bolt of power at the nearest person standing. Sid yelped as his arm was turned to sludge and dripped from his shoulder. Stein never looked away, and never stopped grinning. The angel was terrified now. What the hell was this man? Where had the calm and collected and protective scientist gone?

"Don't worry Sid, I have a new idea for your next arm! You'll love it! I just have to finish up here and I'll get it sewed on right away!" Stein laughed again. Sid just scooted away. He had not been present much the last time Stein had fallen pray to his madness. He now had an even greater respect for the woman who had rescued him from it.

"Franken! Snap out of it!" Marie clutched his ankle as he stepped past her. In an instant, his grin faded and his eyes shrank to a look of confusion, then anger. He turned his glare on the angel. He spun his scalpel again and advanced more purposefully. Marie smiled from the ground and relaxed. She closed her eyes and reached out in all directions, pressing her healing wavelength into her injured friends.

"What happened? Maka! Are you alright?!" Spirit was the first to recover and was at his daughter's side in an instant. He shook her gently and her eyes flickered open.

"Uh? Papa? I'm alright... Crona? Is she okay?!" Her eyes filled with fear as she looked around, seeing the unconscious girl a few feet away. She relaxed when she saw her chest rising and falling evenly. Spirit smiled reassuringly at her then stood and walked to his first meister's side. "Need a hand?"

"A blade would be more handy." Stein held out his hand and caught the scythe deftly, spinning it experimentally, then returning his focus to the angel. "Now. You have an appointment with my operating table."

It struck the group in the death room once again, how easy it was to forget. This man, who was always so calm, goofy, cheerful and depressed. This man who taught students, had a wife and adopted daughter. This man, who's greatest joy was dissecting rare animals, and the occasional house guest. This man who could fall out of his office chair while moving from room to room.

It was easy for all of them, even Lord Death, to forget. He was the most powerful meister to ever graduate from Shibusen. Now they remembered just what that meant. Maka shivered as the wave of power washed over her. She watched the glowing soul of the meister swell and sharpen, bathing him in an unearthly light as the angel cowered before him. He raised the scythe high and spun her father between two fingers as easily as he had spun his scalpel.

To his credit, the angel fought till the very end. He summoned a dozen demons, each as strong as a keshin, but they fell like flies before the might of the enraged meister. He clapped his hands together mid swing, blasting his resonance feedback through the scythe and cutting five keshin down in one blow. The others began to fall back, hesitant even to follow the orders of their creator. It did them no good.

Stein stood over the angel, looking down at him with distaste and hatred written plainly on his face as he pressed the blade of the scythe to his throat. He flicked his wrist and sent a pulse of his wavelength down the weapon and into the victim, forcing his body to straighten under the influence of his stitches.

The man began to writhe, the feeling of a million tendrils invading his body and then slowly his mind was enough to drive him over the brink of insanity. Then Stein's probing threads found what they were looking for and the angel went limp.

"W-what did you do?" Marie asked, clearly afraid of the answer.

"I just did some minor brain surgery. He will no longer be able to move or use his powers. Or do much of anything without help ever again. Not that it is of much concern, given the fate that lies ahead of him." Stein's voice was nearly emotionless, but the layer of fury and relief was there, beneath the forced calm. He lifted the angel with one hand and began to walk away. "Marie, please don't bring Crona home until morning. I don't want either of you to witness this."

* * *

"Your dad is scary as hell Crona!" Black Star crowed joyfully, standing on the back on Soul and Maka's couch.

"That was pretty bad ass." Soul nodded and slouched in the middle of the piece of furniture.

"He wiped the floor with that loser!" Patty giggled as she swung a stuffed giraffe around like a scythe.

"Regardless of the angel's immunity to the powers of a shinigami, I am afraid I must admit Professor Stein may be the greater meister." Kid looked shocked. Everyone knew he had an enormous amount of respect for his father. That admission meant a lot.

"Lord Death hasn't had to fight in a very long time. Stein has a lot more resent experience." Liz patted Kid on the shoulder.

"Not really, they have been sparing in the death room lately, but it always seemed that Professor Stein was on the defensive. It seems there is a great deal more to him than meets the eye." Kid looked thoughtfully at Crona. "I had no idea he cared so much for you."

"Yeah... He is not that great at showing affection. He prefers to show his pride in me. But it was... nice, seeing him show how much he really cares about me and Mom." Crona blushed, remembering how furious her father had been when the angel had touched either of them.

"Well at least your dad isn't as over protective as Maka's. Spirit is dangerous enough as a death scythe, but Stein is a walking nightmare when he's angry. I'd hate to be the guy asking him for permission to marry his daughter. Click click click." Soul imitated turning a screw in his head. "You're definitely braver than me, Maka."

"He's not scary at all when I'm there." Maka said, blushing at the admittance of being familiar with the father of her girlfriend enough to speak on his personality. She hadn't realized how much time they had been spending at the lab.

"Really? What's it like there?" Liz piped up. Crona and Maka stared at her.

"What do you mean?" Maka asked, tilting her head.

"Well, I've never actually been there, so I was wondering, what is it like in their house? I've always had pretty nightmarish expectations... Does it smell like formaldehyde?" Liz leaned forward, interested. Black Star seemed to be a bit curious too. Crona blushed. She had forgotten how rarely people visited her home, much less spent time anywhere but the lab.

"Not at all. I had wondered about that, but it actually smells really nice. More like a hint of rubbing alcohol mixed with a basket of fresh fruit." Maka smiled fondly at the thought.

"He hates the smell of embalming fluids. He almost never dissects anything that has been preserved. He says its because the data would be all but irrelevant at that point, but I know it is because of the smell. And he hates the smell of decay only a little less. He keeps everything very clean, if a bit unorganized." Crona smiled at the memory of how completely sterile and spotless the jumbled mess of surgical equipment usually was.

"Besides, Marie wouldn't let him get away with leaving the place smelling like a high school bio lab." Maka giggled and sat next to Crona, leaning on her gently. She was in a good mood since it had been decided that Crona would stay the night with her for once, instead of the other way around.

"Is the whole place stitched, like the outside, and everything else he owns?" Black Star jumped down and landed between Soul and Tsubaki, now fully interested in the conversation.

"Not at all. Most of the furniture looks pretty new." Maka said.

"Well... that's because he didn't have any furniture until Mom moved in." Crona giggled at the memory of Marie explaining what a pain it had been to get the stubborn man to okay her decisions on a sofa and a bed.

"Really? That explains a lot actually." Maka laughed. "But no, most of the place is stitch free. Well... Except for Crona's mphh!" Crona clamped her hand over her girlfriend's mouth, her cheeks matching her hair.

"Except for Crona's what? Tell us! Tell us!" Liz demanded, eyes wide at the prospect of something embarrassing about Shibusen's star pupil. Kid smiled knowingly and then looked away, not willing to get drawn into the argument. He need not have worried. Maka was in a teasing mood.

"Hmmm... I have no idea what you're talking about, Liz." The gun leaped up from her seat, pointing accusingly at the blonde meister.

"You traitor! Spill! You can't bait us like that and then play dumb!" Maka giggled as she wrapped her arms around Crona's shoulders in an exaggerated pose.

"I could never tell you such a personal and embarrassing thing about my dear Crona!" Crona blushed even brighter, not entirely sure how to deal with the situation. She'd gotten better about handling people, but the rowdy, affectionate group was still a bit much for her to keep up with sometimes.

"Come on! I'll tell you something about Kid in exchange!" Now the young shinigami was interested. He glared at the gun in surprise and confusion. Crona raised an eyebrow and shifter her gaze between the weapon and her meister. Thin she smiled sweetly.

"Deal!" Crona laughed as her old crush sputtered and waved his hands. Liz squealed in joy, and Patty only laughed happily, rolling on the floor, not a care in the world.

"Alright! Tell me tell me tell me!" Liz was well within Crona's personal space and Maka gently pushed the weapon back a few inched and scooted pointedly closer. Liz gave her a look of understanding and stepped back a bit.

"I... Have a stuffed wolf I named Stitches. He was a welcome home present from my parents when the adopted me. He's stitched in the same way as Dad's chair and the outside of the house. Now, what is Kid's embarrassing secret?" Crona tried to keep her face from bursting into flames at the admission of her stuffed animal, distracting herself from the weapon's mad laughs by focusing on the blushing shinigami.

"Kid coordinates the colors of his underwear with mine and Patty's every day!" Kid buried his face in his hands and tried to become invisible as his friends began to laugh. He glared around once before covering his head again. It only took a few moments for him to be back up and laughing with them as Black Star gave his contribution.

"Tsubaki can't fall asleep if she doesn't have her night light!" The multi-form weapon gaped like a fish out of water at the unexpected revelation, but immediately retorted with her own bit of dirty laundry.

"Black Star is afraid of spiders!" The arrogant ninja fell off the back of the sofa as quickly as he had jumped up onto it.

"Some "god" you are!" Soul laughed at his best friend and received a halfhearted kick to the head from the one leg still sticking over the back of the sofa.

"Soul has a bit of a fetish for feet!" Maka wiggled her toes in the air as the albino demon weapon cringed and tried to shrink into the sofa in the coolest way possible, scowling at Maka the whole time.

"Patty and Liz have french kissed." There was a moment pause as all eyes swiveled to the sister's in question and their blushing meister. Then the laughing continued as Liz immediately wrestled her boyfriend and meister to the ground.

"Alright, Soul it's your turn for something on Maka!" The white haired boy looked thoughtful for a moment, then grinned.

"I'll only tell the highest bidder." There was a sudden hush.

"Fifty bucks!" Black Star shouted behind the couch.

"I'll let you cheat off me when Maka stops because of you telling me!" Tsubaki giggled, knowing she probably already knew whatever the weapon knew, but always willing to hear more secrets about her friend.

"We'll take off our socks!" The Thompson sister's laughed and Soul turned red.

"I'll upgrade your bike so it can fly." Kid spoke calmly and confidently, perfectly matching Soul's usual cool attitude.

"Sold! Get over here Kid!" The young shinigami leaned an ear down to the weapon and his face turned to one of surprise then amusement at whatever the boy whispered.

"That is definitely worth a bike upgrade. Bring it past after school next week and I'll have it done by the next morning." Kid straightened up, giving Maka a strange look before laughing and sitting back between his weapons.

"Hey! What did he tell you?!" Maka was horrified and glaring at both her weapon and the shinigami.

Crona was happy that she had friends like these.

* * *

_**So, what did you think? I adore Stein and i wanted to give him a bit bigger role this time, and bring in some of his madness and scary-ness. Don't worry about the angel guy, i've still got plans for that. Any plot holes i am leaving have equal chance to be intentional that i will fill in later, or accidents that i derped. Please let me know if you are too confused! I'm also still working on the segment between chapter 4 and 5. Don't worry, i haven't forgotten. Please, read and review!**_


	7. Chapter 7

Crona looked around warily as she walked through the front door, Marie following close behind her. No blood. That was a good sign that they weren't back too soon. She sniffed. A bit more rubbing alcohol than usual. He'd already cleaned up. She stepped in and looked through the doorway into the lab. She saw his back hunched over his desk.

"Dad? Are you awake?" Crona walked up to him and carefully slipped the scalpel from his fingers before shaking his shoulder gently. He let out one small moan, then sat up, blinking and taking in his company. He smiled tiredly at her.

"Welcome home Crona. Marie? What time is it?" He look behind him as the smiling woman entered the lab.

"It's ten in the morning Franken." She looked around and was glad to see no evidence of whatever had transpired in their absence. Stein stood and stretched, yawning for several seconds before he finally relaxed and opened his eyes fully.

"I suppose it is too late to go to bed now. On with the day then!" He smiled a bit and just looked at the two women intently for a while. "I'm glad you're both alright."

"Only thanks to you." Crona hugged her father then smiled up at him before turning to leave the lab. "I'll fix breakfast today!" Marie and Stein smiled after her.

"She adores you, you know." Marie smirked up at him. He grinned.

"Yes, but I adore her just as much. I never imagined that having a family could make me this happy. The two of you amaze me every day." Stein pulled his wife into a tight hug and kissed her forehead, then stretched once again. "I will have to go to Shibusen after breakfast. This so called angel is very worrying. He'll want my report immediately."

"What is it?" Marie's eyes were wide.

"It was a male witch that had devoured the souls of many Keshins." Stein's tone was grave. "It was unable to explain where it came from or how it happened, but I have the feeling someone or something intentionally created it, and there will be more where it came from."

"This is bad, Franken." Marie held onto his arm tightly.

"I know, Marie. I know. But luckily, he was unable to return with a report on out forces. All the enemy will know for sure is that he was defeated. That will make them more cautious, and harder to find. But it should stop them from making any more specific advancements against the advantages we have."

"You mean like alchemy?" Marie asked, glancing toward the kitchen.

"Exactly."

* * *

"I... do not understand even a tiny bit." Maka's mouth was hanging open slightly as she stared at the diagram Crona had stretched out. Kid had his head tilted to the side, deep in concentration. Whether it was about the content of the display or its asymmetry, the world might never know. Lord Death had his usual blank mask on, but made no sounds to indicate excessive levels of understanding or confussion. Stein looked intently at each detail, his face showing concern.

"You're saying if there is one other world residing around us, there can be infinitely many. Even assuming we could only become fused with adjacent worlds, we have no idea how many that might be. So, in conclusion, the fallen angel could have come from anywhere at any time and we would have no way of knowing or tracing it, nor determining if more are on their way." Stein shifted his gaze to his daughter. She nodded.

"That is troubling to say the least." Lord Death sounded far from his usual chipper self. The effortless defeat of him and his son had sobered him greatly on this matter. "What are our options?"

"The enemy seemed surprised by my use of alchemy. He was also unprepared for Professor Stein's style of fighting. He was, however able to best Black Star, and yourself. We need to take these things into consideration and begin work to prepare the students and staff of Shibusen to fight these creatures if more should appear." Crona said formally.

"You are quite right. Being prepared is likely our best defense. Professor Stein, would you please work on a new training program for our students? One designed to combat these creatures. If it requires teaching advanced techniques, I leave that decision to you." Lord Death addressed the scientist calmly. Stein nodded.

"I understand. I'll be ready to begin tomorrow. Crona, would you please continue your research into alchemy as well as your parallel word theories? Any information you can turn up will be invaluable in the battles to come." He gave her presentation one last look and smiled. She nodded.

"Yes, I'll do my best." Crona already had a thought forming in her mind.

* * *

"You're serious about this?" Kid looked at her incredulously. Maka had agreed immediately, and even Black Star had agreed to help. It was only Kid who was wary. Probably due to the fear he felt last time.

"Going back there could greatly improve our chances of defeating these creatures. They may even know what they are." Crona was determined.

"How many souls will we need?" Kid asked, trying to find a practical reason to veto this plan.

"It would require a total of three keshin souls, but since it would be dangerous to wait for full Keshins to appear, I think nine keshin eggs would be enough. Three to get there, three to come back, and three more to send back anyone I bring back with me." Crona counted off on her fingers. She was certain that three eggs would be close enough in energy to a full keshin.

"And you are sure you can get back again? At the right time this time?" Kid was still not sold on the idea.

"Absolutely. I ironed out the wrinkles in our calculations as soon as I got back, just in case. I can definitely pin point my location on that side and my time on that side to within an hour and within a meter." Crona grinned. Kid was out of objections. "Will you help me get the souls I need?"

"Yeah! Lets do this!" Black Star was eager to get to it. He had been as willing to get behind Crona's schemes as he had always been with Souls recently. He now respected her as his teacher to some degree, and even considered her a friend after the evening of sharing secrets.

"I'm with you all the way, Crona." Maka smiled at her.

"I guess I have no choice. If I want to keep an eye on you, I have to help I suppose." Kid stood up and looked at the others. "What are you all waiting for?"

* * *

Three young meisters stood, staring in shock. In an instant, Crona had vanished in a ripple of light, and reappeared not ten feet away with a man at her side. He was slightly taller than her, and dressed in crimson that contrasted with her white, and with a matching symbol on the back. The two looked around, then Crona grinned and walked over.

"How long did it take?" She asked as the man followed her over. He looked to be only a year or so older than the others.

"Not even seconds." Kid stated, finding his voice first.

"Excellent!" Crona looked up at her friend who had a slightly confused look on his face. Crona's eyes widened and she smacked a hand to her forehead. "Oh that is a bit of a problem..."

"What is it Crona?" Maka stepped forward, feeling a small amount of jealousy toward the stunning man next to her girlfriend.

"He... speaks german. You guys don't speak german." All eyes turned to her, then moved to her friend. He gave them a half smile and waved. Crona looked as if she wanted to sink into the ground. How had she carried on full conversations with him and never remembered that he would be unable to communicate with any of her friends?!

"Hey Crona... I picked up a bit of this language while I was traveling. I might not be able to understand everything, but I won't be helpless." Crona stared at him as he spoke in perfect english.

"What the hell Ed?! You let me stumble my way through german for a whole year and never told me you could understand english?!" The man in red stumbled back a bit, startled by the girls temper.

"Woah, sorry, I never realized you had any trouble with Amestrian... You spoke it a lot better than Ling ever did, so I never thought about it. Sorry." He chuckled despite the glare he was receiving.

"Well, since that's settled, it is nice to meet you. I am called Death the Kid. Welcome." The young shinigami held out his hand. Ed looked him over and silently wondered if that was a normal name here.

"I'm Black Star, but since you're new, you don't need to kneel!" The ninja jumped forward, pointing proudly at himself.

"I'm Soul Eater. Crona's told us all a lot about you." The white haired weapon nodded to the new comer.

"I-I'm Maka. Nice to meet you." The blonde meister blushed a bit. Crona hadn't been kidding. He was something else. Those eyes... Crona poked her side pointedly. She blushed a little harder and looked away. Way to go, stupid hormones.

"It's nice to meet you all as well. I hoped i'd get to meet some of the people Crona told me stories about. I wish I had more time to spend here." He looked around at the group and the buildings. It was like nothing he had seen.

"How long _do_ you have?" Kid asked.

"Exactly two months before I must be back here to catch my ride home. Crona decided it would be..." A death glare from the pink haired girl silenced him.

"Would be what, Crona?" Maka looked at her with suspicion. Kid looked like he might actually strangle her.

"I... well the truth is it would only be a problem for him really! I was sort of worried that if I went through, I would end up in the wrong time because I was passing through the wrong direction. But for me, I could have just immediately come back. He would be stuck out of his time! I was able to make my way through the same crack I returned through before, though, so no harm done! I left the last three souls with his brother and the location to open the gateway to bring him back." Crona explained, trying to convince her friends that she hadn't been in any greater risk than she had led them to believe.

"Woah! What planet are _you_ from?!" Patty, who had apparently taking a rather lengthy nap in her weapon form, leaped from her holster and inspected Edward from golden hair to pitch black boots.

"Patty, this is a guest from another world. The one Crona went to. How long have you been asleep?" Kid looked amazed at his weapon's unawareness.

"I wasn't asleep! I was thinking about drawing a giraffe on the ceiling in Professor Zombie's room!" Patty grinned innocently at him. She then turned back to the alchemist. "He's friekin' cute!"

"Patty, he's taken. Married, actually. Winry asked me to make sure I kept him in line, and that menas returning him home unmolested." Crona stepped between the attractive young weapon and the slightly alarmed alchemist.

"Awww..." Patty immediately lost interest and transformed again, falling back into her holster.

"She mentioned giraffes. That must make her Patricia Thompson? The other gun, I assume, is her twin. That is incredible. Is it human transmutation? How can you do this without dying? You would have to make an enormous sacrifice to do something like this only once, but repeatedly?" Edward was looking intently at the gun. Soul smirked and took the opportunity to show off. He transformed his arm into a scythe blade and held it up for inspection.

"Soul, could you save that until we get home? He'll want to stay out here and study you all evening, and I want to get home for dinner. Besides, my parents will want to meet him." Crona once again stepped between the alchemist and one of her friends, realizing just how tiring this could end up being.

* * *

"So, he's the most powerful meister around?" Ed asked Soul quietly. They all sat in the living room, watching as Crona and Stein talked in the lab.

"Yeah. He is scary when he fights. A lot more frightening than any keshin." Soul shuddered, recalling the battle in the death room. "Don't ever piss him off."

"I hadn't planned to, but I will keep that in mind. Show me your arm again. Can you transform slower?" Ed inspected the appendage yet again.

"Not really, it's a lot like flipping a switch. It is sort of either flesh or blade. I don't have much control about how fast it changes between them." He transformed his arm for the hundredth time and Ed kept his golden eyes focused on the process.

"Alright, if you're done studying my friends, I would like you to meet my dad. Professor Franken Stein." The taller scientist extended his hand to the red coated alchemist.

"So you are the Fullmetal Alchemist that Crona told me about? I'd like to thank you for insuring my daughter made it home safely when she fell into your world." The group was amazed. None of them had expected such a greeting from the insane doctor.

"It was an honor to be able to help her." Edward bowed formally to the man. Maka smiled and immediately decided she liked him and would have no problems seeing him as a friend. Crona grinned.

"Ed, he is a scientist too. He has about the same opinion on formality as you do." The alchemist looked back at her then back to the man. He smiled widely.

"That's a relief. I'm very curious about the soul energy you use in this world, and Crona says you are a renouned expert on the subject. Would it be okay for me to see your research?" Edward asked. Stein grinned, always glad to meet a fellow scientist.

"Absolutely. But it will have to wait until after dinner. Marie will kill us all if we skip the meal she prepared for us." Ed laughed.

"Yeah, I know what that's like. Winry is the only reason I eat at all some days. Then again, other days she can't keep food in the house. It really just depends how interested I am in my current project." Stein nodded in understanding. Crona walked away, beginning to regret introducing the two.

* * *

"A fight? Like sparring?" Ed looked at the ninja in surprise. It had been a long time since he had been in a real match with someone that didn't have too many limbs.

"Yeah!" Black Star was determined to see if the man was as formidible as Crona had said.

"Alright! Let's go!" Ed stood up, his cocky smile plastered on his face. He slid his coat from his shoulders and Black Star's jaw dropped. Ed laughed and peeled off his gloves, tossing them aside as well. "Don't go easy on me. It's as much a blessing as it is a curse!"

"That is awesome! Tsubaki, I want one. If I ever lose an arm, i'm getting one. But I won't ever lose an arm, because I am a god." Ed laughed and walked to the middle of the area.

"I punched a hole through the last person I met that claimed to be a god. Lets see how you measure up." That made Black Star falter a bit. He shook off the feeling and stood at the ready.

The fight lasted over an hour. By the time Black Star finally colapsed from exhaustion and blood loss, quite a crowd had gathered around. Edward finally dropped to his knees, panting as he held himself up on all fours. Black Star laughed from his place on the ground.

"That was one hell of a fight... I can see why a lesser god would have lost to you... Tsubaki, I can't move. Can you bring me a drink?" Tsubaki stared down at her meister for a moment, face covered with concern, before going to fetch a drink and a doctor.

"If he'd been half as tough, strong, or fast as you, I'd have had a rough time of it, but I did use alchemy in that fight. You'll have to fight my brother some day." Ed gave up and rolled onto his back, mirroring his sparring partner. Crona walked over to the two.

"You guys are morons." Crona grinned down at them. Maka nodded and Soul laughed at the sight of the two, completely drained, laughing like idiots. Tsubaki returned with two bottles of water and Doctor Nygus in tow.

Half an hour later, two bandaged men still lay lazily in the middle of the room.

"Are you guys going to get up?" Maka pokes Black Star with her toe. He glares up at her.

"Kneel before me, woman!" He shouts from his place on the ground. Maka pokes a little less gently before walking away. Soul comes over and offers a hand to his best friend. Black Star laughs and takes it, pulling himself up. He then goes and offers the gesture to Ed.

The alchemist straightens up and dusts off his arms and legs, then pulls on his coat. He stretches.

"That was the best work our i've gotten in ages. We've got to do that again sometime." Ed looked around. The crowd had left, but their friend remained. The ninja nodded.

"Yeah, then I can kick your butt again!" Black Star laughed.

"We'll see about that!" Ed clapped his hands together and touched the ground the floor shifted and engulfed Black Star's feet. The alchemist laughed and began walking away. Black Star laughed and punched through the stone with a fist coated in his wavelength.

They were quite an act to watch.

* * *

"Mmmm..." Maka let out a content sigh as she snuggled close to Crona. It had been over a week since they got to sleep together like this. "I like your hair long." She ran her fingers through the loose pink strands.

"I'm glad I didn't have Kid cut it then. I've gotten used to it. I didn't know how to deal with it at first. There is a lot more to wash and brush, but as long as I keep it tied back in a pony tail, it doesn't get in the way any." Crona looked at the locks of hair in Maka's fingers.

"You're happy to have Edward back. I can tell. He means a lot to you." Maka slipped her hand down Crona's back and onto her hip, pulling her close and nuzzling her neck.

"I had missed him. He gets along with everyone better than I had expected. Winry has been training him well." Crona giggled. "Although I always sort of pictured him and Black Star either being best friends or worst enemies. With two egos like theirs, it was going to be extreme." Maka nodded in agreement.

"I see what you mean. Kid still isn't completely sold though. I think he's worried you'll vanish before his eyes again." Maka looked into the girl's eyes and touched their noses together. "You won't, will you?"

"No. I won't be going anywhere. No relax. We need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day." Crona kissed her lips softly and closed her eyes, enjoying the sound of her love's heartbeat.

* * *

The next weeks passed quickly. They worked daily, assembling techniques and data on how to fight this enemy. Edward had never heard of such a creature in his world, but contributed his knowledge of alchemy any way. He was determined not to waste a day of the time he had here.

By the end of the first month, no one could tell that english was not his first language. He claimed it was a lot easier than trying to learn Xingese, which they decided must be japanese. They also decided he was just stupidly smart, and no one should be aloud to know three different languages.

He sparred with Black Star nearly every day, until finally they decided to use their full abilities. Tsubaki agreed, knowing she could stop if either of their lives were in danger. No one expected the difference the new rules would make in the new comers fighting power.

Black Star was left winded and bruised more than five times without ever laying a solid blow on the alchemist. When he had full access to his life long passion, he was ten times more dangerous. His moves were faster, smoother, and stronger. Black Star hadn't realized just how new Crona was to alchemy until he saw a real master.

Stein insisted he learn the art himself. No one wanted to think how scary the man would be with yet another deadly weapon in his arsenal. They were, however, curious what a fight between the tall scientist and the young alchemist would be like.

The mad man learned the basics of alchemy in two days, and had sharpened his skills well beyond his daughter's in only five. Ed was amazed time after time at the surprises these people had in them. He was slightly scared when Maka informed him that he had a Grigori soul, just like hers. He had never heard of the ability to see souls.

The weeks past quickly, each day filled with new surprises for the students and the alchemist. When it came time for him to leave, they were even considering ways to let him stay longer.

"I can't. I wish I could. It is so different here! It's amazing. But I have to go home. They need me there. And I miss Winry. I hope you have what you need to fight this new enemy. Sorry I can't take you with me Blair, but i'm pretty sure my brother would die if he was petting a cat and it turned into a gorgeous naked woman. That, or Mei would kill him."

"It's alright, I would have missed everyone here too much!" The cat licked her knuckles, ignoring the fact that she was in her human form. Ed laughed and waved at her and the group he had gotten to know. Only Crona, Maka, Soul, and Black Star would be accompanying him to Germany.

* * *

"It was good to meet all of you. I'll remember this place fondly. Soul, you're the coolest guy I know. You're lucky to be able to transform your body like that without an immeasurable toll. Black Star, sparring with you has been the most fun i've had in years. And you are a hell of a lot stronger than the last creature I met that became a god. Maka, you have a remarkable ability, being able to see souls. You really are something else. I see why Crona loves you. Take good care of her. Crona..." Ed turned to his friend.

"Yeah, I know." Crona grinned at him. He smirked and then laughed. He hugged her close, then held her away, looking her over.

"You've become an impressive alchemist. Wear that symbol with pride. My teacher would have been proud to claim you. I hope we meet again some day!" He smiled at them all, then a ripple passed through the air before them and he was gone. Soul was smiling.

"Why are you so happy? Did it bother you having someone cooler than you around?" Black Star teased, nudging his shoulder.

"No way. I'm happy cause i'm the only one who knows the next time we'll see him." The group stared at him in surprise.

"What?" Crona stared, then she grinned and giggled. "Well played, Soul Eater." The others stared at her now, as she began to walk back toward their cab.

"What? What happened? Crona! What does he mean?" Maka ran after the girl.

"He sent him back with some more souls, and probably made the appointment himself. I can't believe you didn't notice that he hadn't eaten all of them!" Maka blushed.

"It's not my fault... As soon as we're out of danger, I always end up watching you fight."

"Well, come on. I'm sure Ed won't forget where we live. We should get back home. We do still have school tomorrow." Crona slipped her hand into Maka's and pulled her along.

* * *

"S.W.A.R.M. ?" Kid raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, that's right. Soul Wavelength and Resonance Manipulation. It will be an optional course for our best students. It will be taught by Crona and Stein after regular class hours three days a week." Lord Death nodded happily.

"And... Why do all of our classes need to have acronyms that spell unrelated words?" Kid looked up at his father with an expression of distaste. E.A.T. And N.O.T. And now S.W.A.R.M.?

"It just happens that way. Purely coincidence." The elder shinigami laughed cheerfully. His son walked away before he began to dwell on the asymmetry of all of the words.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm sleeping with one of my teachers." Maka giggled. Crona laughed with her and pulled the blankets tighter around them. It was getting colder during the nights. Of course, they were in Nevada, so it never got _that_ cold, but when you were used to 90 degree nights during the summer, the 40 degree nights were chilly.

"Well I won't let our relationship effect your grade. Not like you need it. You're top of the class already anyway." Crona lifted her head and tucked Stitches under her neck as a pillow. He now permenently smelled like all the things she loved. Maka's shampoo, Stein's lab, Marie's food. He was a soft bundle of memories.

"Crona, we need to get some newer pictures of you. The only one I have is back when you first came to Shibusen. You've changed so much since then, it is barely recognizable as you!" Maka smiled and reached over the side of the bed, digging in her discarded pants for something. She came back up with a thin metal box.

She pulled it open and slid out several pictures. The first was of her as a young child standing between her father and a woman that must be her mother. The next was of her and Soul, dancing. The next showed her laughing with Tsubaki and the Thompson twins. The last one showed a thin, shy girl, nearly cowering, in a long black dress, and short choppy hair. She looked ill at ease, and possibly just ill. Maka was next to her, grinning happily. Crona smiled. She hadn't noticed how much she had changed.

She had long ago traded in her black dress for bright and colorful outfits, and a pure white lab coat. She had grown her hair and Kid would never let her keep it uneven. She was confident and healthy, able to stand tall and proud alongside her friends. She had a family and friends. She had lost her birth mother, who had tortured and used her, and her first friend and weapon, who had hassled her, but stayed with her through hell. But she had gained so much more. And she still had her memories.

"Maka, I love you. Lets go get some new pictures of the two of us tomorrow." Crona rolled on top of the blonde and kissed her softly. Maka giggled and made an expression that reminded Crona of the time she had given herself over to madness. Crazy Maka had scared her, but this face was too inviting to be afraid of.

* * *

_**So, i hadn't planned on bringing Ed back, but i sort of wanted to, so i did. I promise, he will not make more than one more appearance for the remainder of the story.**_

_**Please leave me some reviews! I'm neglecting a few other stories because i am enjoying writing this, so leave me some feedback. Constructive criticism is always helpful, i know i am far from a professional author, and you could write a lengthy book on my mistakes.**_

_**If you have any questions or comments, or requests, let me know! **_


	8. Author's Notice! Important-ish!

Hey! This is a note on future updates, and I am posting the same document on several stories, so i'm sorry if it is not specifically directed at what you are interested in!

First off, a general notice. You! You people who keep reviewing and leaving comments, suggestions, and worst of all questions without logging in! _**STOP IT!**_ Do you know how frustrating it is to get a good question, suggestion, or comment that I want to respond to and find out it is from (Guest) Name?! It makes me want to light you on fire! Please, if you are going to take the time to leave a review, then also take the time to log in!

For the rest of this author's note, I will put a heading for each story this relates to so you can jump to whichever one you are interested in. I understand most people don't want to sit and read about stories in fandoms they don't care about.

**A Fate Far Worse Than Death** – Soul Eater fandom. First attempt at horror. I absolutely adore Stein. He is one of my favorite anime characters. I see my personality in him far too much to be healthy, but I promise I won't dissect anyone who doesn't really deserve it. I may, eventually, write more stories _like_ this one, but I will not be adding to it. This story is 100% completed. Except for the possibility of minor editing, it will not be updated again.

**A Head for a Head** – Durarara fandom. Celty x Shizuo pairing. Shinra and Izaya death. One of my absolute least popular stories. I'm not sure if it is just terrible, or if it is in a section of the genre that people just aren't interested in. I had originally planned to continue it, but after a bit to think about it, I'm calling it complete. It will take a lot of signed reviews of significant content to convince me otherwise.

**A Tsundere and an Otaku** – Lucky Star fandom. My first yuri story. Very well received, and fun to write. I may continue the series eventually, if I am struck with inspiration. I'm definitely not ruling it out as a future possibility.

**After The Requiem** – Code Geass fandom. I'm re writing the first chapter, and I will continue this one. Code Geass was my second anime and still one of my favorites. I have the second chapter half done, after rethinking how I wanted to approach the story, but I still need to make the first chapter lead up to it correctly.

**Before the Requiem** – Code Geass fandom. Not my best, but I wanted to put it out there. This one is not going anywhere. It's complete for now, and I will probably remove it later, improve it, and make it a small component of After the Requiem.

**Crona's Story** – Soul Eater fandom. Mostly done. I definitely have more to do with it, but it isn't a priority right now. It is fun to write, and I add a few paragraphs to chapter 8 whenever I get bored. Don't expect anything soon, but don't be surprised if it gets an update from time to time.

**Determination** – Trigun fandom. Done. I love the characters, and I'm sure there is tons more I could do with this one, but I'm just not really interested in continuing it. Unless unforeseen circumstances lead to me writing more for this fandom, this one is complete.

**Gregor and the Prophecy of Ragers** – Underland Chronicles fandom. In progress! My first real story, and one of my longest. I WILL finish this, but it may take a while. I had the first nine chapters planned out for a good year before I started writing, but when I got past that, I lost a lot of steam. I know where I want to go with it, I'm just not doing so great getting there. I will continue working on it sporadically, but it could a long time coming. Sorry. It WILL be 27 chapters, and possibly and epilogue.

**Heartbeat** – Durarara fandom. Again, extremely unpopular. Finished. All I wanted was to put another non-yaoi Shizuo and Izaya story out there. There aren't enough of them.

**Invader to Resident** – Invader Zim fandom. Tak x Gaz. Another fun one to write. I've got more planned for this one, but I am calling it finished until I decide how much more I want to add. If I continue, there will be OCs, and I am dealing with enough of those as it is right now.

**Rational Fear** – FLCL fandom. This is also in progress. As for the questions I have received about whether it will be Naota x Haruko or Naota x Eri, you'll have to wait and see, same as me. I'm writing this one as I go. There is no plan, cause that just isn't how FLCL works.

**Recoil** – Full Metal Panic. I enjoy writing for Sousuke, and have a continuation in the works, but it will be a new story, not a new chapter, so don't be looking for it there.

**Shouting Match** – Legend of Zelda and Portal crossover fandom. This was just an underdeveloped plot bunny I needed to slay. Chell and Link, the two coolest mute video game heroes, in my opinion. It was fun, but I will not be continuing it. I do plan to write a new LoZ story later, but it will be unrelated.

**Stakeout** – Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya fandom. Chapter three is underway, but since I left the story at a good stopping point, I'm not rushing. I love the fandom, and probably will continue working on it in small chunks.

**Straw Hat Legacy** – One Piece fandom. My first attempt at a sad story. I wanted to write an emotional ending to the show, that would also set up for my own story to follow after. I never intended for their to be a second chapter, much less a third, but I just keep getting pulled back to it. I hope it is finished, but I won't promise there won't be a fourth chapter eventually. And I won't say that it may have Shanks and/or Sabo in it.

**Strength of Will** – Fullmetal Alchemist fandom. Ling is awesome, so I wrote this one up. Not super realistic, but it is what I wanted it to be. Remember, I write for myself. Others enjoying it is just an added benefit.

**Summer House Trip 4** – Azumanga Daioh fandom. My crappiest title so far! I will change the title eventually. I had a plan for this one, but I lost my drive to complete it, and it has fallen into the not-quite-forgotten portion of my brain. I do still remember bits and pieces of my plan for it, so I may continue this summer, when I rewatch the series.

**The Fury of an Otaku** – Lucky Star fandom. A bit OOC, but it was supposed to be. A follow up to A Tsundere and and Otaku that I never intended to write. I've been told it should have been a second chapter instead of a second story, but I didn't feel like it at the time.

**The Legacy Storm** – One Piece fandom. My current obsession. I am actively working on this, and will go straight to writing for it after I post this note. I'm currently working with a few other authors on laying out the story and characters, and I hope it turns out well. Right now, it is looking like 39 chapters. I am still looking for a dedicated partner for this project, so if you are interested, send me a message!

**Viral the Storyteller** – Gurren Lagann fandom. My favorite character from Gurren Lagann didn't have enough stories, so I gave him another. Viral is just too cool not to like! Finished, though. Just not much I wanted to write about here.


End file.
